


This Is Worth Fighting For

by PrincessJaqulineChess1031



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Emotional Abuse, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friends as Family, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Katherine is a Queen and we love and respect a queen in this house, M/M, Medda Larkin is the best damn grandmother in this whole world, Modern AU, Physical Abuse, Single Father, also Spot is here because reasons, because Snyder is trash and terrible, bryan is eccentric and weird but still kinda likable?, but trigger warning on the whole fic just in case, idk - Freeform, jack is trying his best guys, parenting, race and davey are loving and supporting boyfriends, spot and kath are friends with benefits because i said so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-10-08 22:12:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17394635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessJaqulineChess1031/pseuds/PrincessJaqulineChess1031
Summary: Jack Kelly is doing the best can to be the best father to his son, Romeo. The past five years have been more than a little hard on him — he’s working every chance he can, he’s behind on pretty much every bill, and he’s so damn exhausted. But it’s for Romeo, so he just keeps pushing through, even if he knows his breaking point is coming up fast.Enter one Katherine Plumber, a reporter who is investigating something Jack would much rather she leave alone. But Katherine’s got her own demons to face and she’s got her own reasons for what she’s doing.Jack Kelly just wants to do the best for his son. Katherine Plumber has bigger plans.





	1. Prologue

The rain came down on hard on the window. Sheets and sheets had been beating endlessly on the glass and the wall around it for hours, and the repeated sound was making it hard for Jack to sleep.

He rolled over on his mattress and pulled his worn, navy blue blanket over his head. He had to be awake in only a few hours to make sure Romeo got to school on time and God knew how tired Jack already was. He had always been a light sleeper, a habit he had to pick up in some of his seedier early foster homes, and the storm outside was doing little to help him nod off.

He hoped that Romeo hadn’t been woken  up at the noise. Romeo wasn’t a light of a sleeper as Jack, but he wasn’t no rock either. Romeo needed the sleep for school; Romeo loved school, and Jack didn’t want him too burnt out not to enjoy it .Or worse, not learn anything.

Jack couldn’t shake the feeling Romeo was awake, and most likely afraid. Romeo wasn’t terrified of storms, but to wake up in the middle of the night, alone, with the sound of harsh rain? Especially at age five? Jack would have been scared, and he’s willing to bet Romeo was faring that well.

Unable to shake the feeling plus the inability to fall asleep was twisting Jack’s stomach over and over, not letting him get comfortable on his lumpy old mattress. He contemplated getting up to check on Romeo, mostly to make sure he was okay but also just to have something to do besides sit here with his eyes shut tight trying to sleep.

He had almost decided to go when he heard Romeo.

“Daddy?” a soft voice whispered. His stomach turned, but in a different way. He had been right.

Jack rolled over to look in the doorway of his room and removed the blanket from over his head. His eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, and Romeo was soon revealed to be standing timidly in the doorway, clutching tightly to his stuffed ladybug named Angel.

“Hey tater-tot,” Jack said. “Is something wrong?”

Romeo bit his lip and twisted one of Angel’s soft plush legs in his hands. Jack frowned and sat up straighter, concern flooding his system. 

“Tater-tot?” Jack asked softly. “I-is the storm scaring you?”

Romeo gulped but didn’t say anything. Jack held back a sigh. Romeo was stubborn and fiercely, and at times stupidly, independent. Romeo may have been frightened enough to get out of bed and come to Jack for comfort, but Romeo was just stubborn enough to not want to admit that.

Jack supposed Romeo got those traits from him. How many times had Medda whacked him on the side of the head and tell him to stop being so stupid?

In the end, Romeo never had to give a verbal answer to the question. A crack of lightening and a roll of thick and harsh thunder sounded, which was loud enough to give Jack a small start. Romeo’s eyes widened in fear at the noise and the dark-haired little boy rushed forward in a flash, scrambling onto Jack’s bed without sound.

“ _Hmph_!” Jack was suddenly met with Romeo slamming into his chest, arms wrapped around his torso. Romeo was shaking with fear, Angel now dropped at Jack’s side.

“Oh, tater-tot,” Jack said lowly, trying to comfort Romeo. Jack pulled Romeo closer, wrapping his arms around his son’s small trembling figure. Romeo’s wasn’t sobbing, but Jack could tell some of the boy’s shaking was coming from the tears currently staining Jack’s dark t-shirt.

“It’s okay, Romeo,” Jack said, placing a soft, comforting kiss in Romeo’s hair. “You’re okay, nothing’s going to hurt you.”

“Ma-make-make it stop!” Romeo cried. Another crack of lightening sounded. Romeo yelped and buried his head deep into Jack’s shoulder. “Daddy! Make it stop! It’s scary!”

Jack felt his heart shatter in a thousand pieces. How was he supposed to make Romeo feel better? He couldn’t very well stop a storm, no one had that power.

“I know it’s scary,” Jack eventually said, not quite sure what else he could say. “But it’s okay, you’re okay.”

The thunder let out another roar and Romeo squeaked in fear, wiggling in Jack’s arms slightly.

“I’m scared Daddy,” Romeo said. Romeo sniffled once and Jack sighed and ruffled Romeo’s hair, careful not to let go of Romeo.

“I know you are tater-tot,” Jack said. “B-but tell me what I can do. What can I — what can I do to make you feel better? So you’re not so scared anymore?”

Romeo sniffled again and didn’t say anything.

“Romeo, I can’t help you unless you _talk_ to me.”

Romeo was silent for another moment, curling into Jack as the storm continued to march on outside the window.

“The special song,” Romeo said. His voice was barely above a whisper, but Jack could hear Romeo loud and clear in the darkness of the room.

Jack supposed he should have known Romeo would ask for that — he almost always did when he was upset. Jack had been singing it to Romeo ever since he was born. It had been a nameless tune Jack vaguely remembered his birth mom singing once or twice, and only a verse or two was all Jack could remember. But when Romeo had first started crying out as a baby, the song had just slipped out.

Jack smiled gently. “The special song?”

Romeo nodded against Jack’s shoulder and squealed at the sudden burst of thunder.

“Alright,” Jack said, settling back against his headboard.

“ _Close your eyes,_

_Come with me_

_Where it’s clean and green and pretty_

_And they went and made a city out of clay!_

_Why the minute that you get there,_

_Folks’ll walk right up and say_

‘ _Welcome home, welcome home to Santa Fe!’”_

Romeo started to relax a little at the song, his fearful shaking and trembling beginning to cease. Jack was doubtful Romeo understood most of what Jack was singing about, especially in the next part, but it made Romeo feel better, so Jack didn’t hesitate to continue.

“ _Planting crops,_

_Splitting rails,_

_Swapping tales around the fire,_

_Except for Sunday when you lie around all day!_

_Soon your friends are more like family,_

_And they’re begging you to stay!_

_Ain’t that neat?_

_Living sweet,_

_In Santa Fe,”_

Romeo’s crying was completely finished by now, but now his eyes were shut. Romeo’s breaths were evening out, the erratic fear from earlier flooding out of his system. Jack placed another kiss to Romeo’s temple.

“Are you feeling better tater-tot?” Jack asked.

“A little,” Romeo said in a yawn, eyes still shut tightly. “Can you sing the rest Daddy?”

Jack smiled. “Of course. Just remember I don’t know all the words.”

Jack began searching endlessly for words, any words he could recall from the next part of the song. All he could recall was something about a melody, but the words were far and between. He eventually decided just to make it up.

“ _Santa Fe, you can bet,_

_We won’t let no one beat us!_

_We won’t beg no one to treat us fair and square_

_We’ll do our share,_

_Work the land,_

_Chase the sun,_

_Swim the whole Rio Grande just for fun!”_

Romeo was asleep now or at least it seemed was tittering on the edge of it. Jack smiled contently, happy that Romeo’s fear had passed. He placed a final kiss to Romeo’s hair.

_“Just hold on, kid_

_Till the train makes Santa Fe,”u_

“I love you, tater-tot,” Jack said, even though Romeo couldn’t hear him. “Have a nice sleep.”

Jack positioned his back again, so he was leaning more against a pillow than his wooden headboard, and started to settle into sleep. Trying to move Romeo might just wake him up again and the storm was still going, so that ran the gambit of scaring him again. Jack decided that just meant tonight Romeo would sleep clung to Jack like a kola.

Jack reached over to check that the alarm to get up on his phone was set, and once he was sure he pulled Romeo closer and shut his eyes, hoping sleep found him soon despite the storm billowing outside.


	2. Breaking News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack gets a visit from an old friend.

Jack checked the time on his watch for what was probably the fifth time this hour, trying to will the clock to go faster.

“You know,” Davey said behind him, loading two plates of food on a tray, “checking your watch multiple times is guaranteed to make your shift end quicker.” Jack grimaced at Davey, who merely smiled back cheekily.

“Shut up Davey,” Jack said. “Besides, can you blame me? It’s slow tonight, I just want to get this shift over with.” Today was not a good night at the diner, which was run by a kind man named Jacobi, which meant there was next to no customers here. While that meant the workload was easier, it also meant that tips were few and far between, and Jack and Romeo basically lived off of them – Jacobi may pay him minimum wage, but that was no where near enough to sustain Jack and Romeo. Jack would much rather get this disaster of a shift over with and head to his shift at the bar across the street.

Davey rolled his eyes and hefted his tray up. “You don’t have any tables right now, go check on Romeo.”

As Davey left for his table, Jack cut his glance to the corner booth Romeo had situated himself at when Charlie had walked him over an hour ago. Romeo was scribbling away on some copy paper Jack had managed to snag from the back office, his dinner completely forgotten on the plate next to him. Jack frowned at the sight, and looked back over at his section of tables, finding them empty as they had been for the past half hour.

Jack bit his lip.

“Hey Al,” Jack said, calling through the kitchen window. The red head popped up at the call of his name, smiling his goofy smile. Albert crossed his arms and leaned forward on the stainless-steel shelf separating the front of house and the kitchen, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

“Hey Jack,” Albert said. “Got an order for me?”

Jack shook his head. “Not right now. Can you ask Davey to keep an eye out for my tables when he gets back? Tell’em to come get me if someone gets seated, I’m gonna go talk to Romeo for a sec.”

Albert nodded. “Sure thing.”

“Thanks Al,” Jack said.

“Oh, Jack!” Albert called after him. “Ask him how he likes the sweet potatoes! My professor says I need to work on them.”

Jack wasn’t sure on what stock a five-year-old’s opinions on vegetables was worth to a culinary professor, but he made a note to ask Romeo. At least for Albert’s sake.

“Hey tater-tot,” Jack greeted, stopping at the edge of Romeo’s booth. Romeo’s head popped up with a smile, still clutching his red crayon.

“Daddy!” Romeo said. Jack quickly made an assessment of Romeo’s plate. Jack had taken the one free meal he got from the diner for Romeo when he got here to make sure he had dinner before it got really late, it seemed that for the most part Romeo had eaten it. His turkey sandwich was completely gone, and a little more than half of his sweet potato fries were eaten. Jack considered that a victory for dinner tonight and decided not to push the issue.

“What’cha working on?” Jack asked, peeking over Romeo’s shoulder. Romeo smiled his toothy grin and held up the drawing for Jack to see. It was mostly a series of colored and disordered lines, but Jack could see the outlines of stick figures in a field of green – grass? Where the figures in grass?

Regardless, Jack plastered on a smile. “That looks great Romeo!”

Romeo beamed at the compliment. “It’s for Uncle Charlie! To thank him for watching me after school today!”

Jack ruffled Romeo’s hair affectionately. “I’m sure Uncle Charlie will love it.”

Romeo smiled again and returned to his drawing. Charlie would appreciate the gesture at least, because Jack was still unsure what exactly it was Romeo was drawing. One figure seemed to be smaller than the other – was it supposed to be both Romeo and Charlie? Jack shook his head. Romeo was five, his drawing skills weren’t going to be amazing.

 Jack reached over to take Romeo’s plate. “You done with your food tater-tot?”

Romeo nodded. “Yes sir.”

“Okay,” Jack said. “You excited about sleeping at Uncle Race and Uncle Davey’s tonight?”

If possible, this made Romeo more visibly excited. Romeo loved sleeping at his uncle’s houses, because it was always an ‘adventure’ as Romeo liked to call it. Jack, however, tried to limit the practice when he could on school nights. Jack wanted Romeo to be as rested as possible in a familiar place, and he always worried sleeping over at someone’s else house made Romeo less prepared or rested. But on nights like tonight, where Jack had a shift until three at the bar, Jack knew it would be easier if Romeo was somewhere else he could be distracted from the fact that Jack wouldn’t be back till late, which was known to bother Romeo a little.

“Super excited!” Romeo corrected Jack. “It’s gonna be so much fun! Uncle Davey said that he found an old puzzle to put together before bedtime!”

Jack smiled softly. “Sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun.”

“What’ll be a lot of fun?”

Romeo squealed and rushed out of the booth at the sound of that voice. Jack rolled his eyes and turned around right as Romeo smashed into the owner of the voice’s legs.

“Uncle Spot!” Romeo said excitedly. And sure enough, it was the one and only Spot Conlon. He was still in his police officer’s uniform, even his hat was still on his head. His curly dark hair peeked out from the navy hat and his dimples were visible on his cheeks as he smiled down at Romeo, who was still tightly hugging his legs.

“Well, if it isn’t the Mini Kelly,” Spot said. Romeo laughed and let go of Spot’s legs. “How’s school going for you?” Spot’s brow furrowed, as if he thought he made a mistake. “Are you still in school? It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, you might have graduated by now!” Romeo laughed again.

“No Uncle Spot!” Romeo said. “I’m still in school! Uncle Charlie’s even my teacher!”

Jack chuckled under his breath at the exchange. Spot was the most distant of the people that had been declared Romeo’s gallery of uncles and aunts, something that had only been gifted onto Spot because Jack and Spot had landed in a few of the same foster homes over the years. Jack had expected Spot to shrug it off, but Spot had actually taken to the task remarkably well. Checking in on Romeo, helping to be one of the many people to make sure Romeo turned out better than the whole lot of them. Spot just wasn’t around, physically at least, as much as the others because he ended up making his home in the neighboring Brooklyn borough and, more recently, because of his crazier hours as a new recruit in the NYPD.

But Spot did love Romeo, that was much obvious. And just like the rest of his uncles (plus his aunt Sarah), Romeo had the once feared and respected Spot Conlon wrapped around his little finger.

“Hey Jack,” Spot greeted. Romeo’s face flashed with confusion at the name ‘Jack’. Jack supposed it was time he explained to Romeo that his name wasn’t actually ‘Dad’ or ‘Daddy’, in case Romeo got lost or needed to find Jack or something. Jack tucked away that thought for a different time.

“Hey Spot,” Jack said. “What’s going on? Did you just get off or something?’

Spot shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Just on a break. I actually stopped by to talk to you about something.” Spot cast a look down at Romeo. “About when we were thirteen.”

Jack’s breath caught in his throat and an inexplicable panic flooded his veins. Jack, Spot, and everyone had agreed – the had said – it was understood that place was never to be talked about again. Ever. That place was a place dreaded worse than hell and talking about it only made it worse. Jack was liable to tell Spot to leave and don’t ever bother asking about _that_ ever again, but Spot’s eyes were tight, expressionless, almost blank despite the smile he was putting on for Romeo’s sake. Spot didn’t want to talk about it anymore than the rest of them. Spot must have had a reason.

“Oh, um, tater-tot?” Jack said. He hoped his voice didn’t sound as weak as he felt. Romeo turned to Jack now, still smiling that amazing smile of his. That smile was the only thing keeping Jack grounded right now. Jack’s smile was almost laughable in comparison, Jack didn’t have to see it to know. Jack snuck a quick glance at Davey, who was switching between organizing menus and watching the exchange between Jack and Spot. “Why don’t you go tell Uncle Davey how excited you are about staying over tonight? I’m sure he’d be excited himself to hear it.”

Romeo nodded excitedly. “Okay Daddy!” Romeo spun on his heel and marched over to Davey. “Uncle Davey!”

Jack swallowed thickly and returned his attention to Spot now that Romeo was gone.

“You’ve got a lot of damn nerve bringing that up Conlon.”

Spot sighed and wringed his hands nervously. “Look, I know, I know. I just-uh-she coached me what to say and I still can’t get it out!”

“Wait-she? Coach?” What was Spot going on about?

“Theirs’s this reporter, for _The Times_ ,” Spot said. “And he, uh, he got a hold of some old complaints about you-know-who. He’s – he’s, _gosh,_ he’s trying to get ahold of some us. To – to expose him or something.”

Jack blinked and took a step back. “Spo-Spot, are you saying some rinky dinky reporter from some cruddy old newspaper wants to trudge all this stuff up after all these years? Damn, you-know-who is probably dead by now, he was ancient by time we got there. No need bringing this up again.”

Spot sighed. “Look, I thought you might say that. And I’m not here to try and convince you to go do an interview or something, because I know that wouldn’t work. I’m just here to warn you that this guy might be showing up to try and talk to you. Officially he hasn’t even started yet. I ju-just don’t want you to be caught off-guard.”

Jack took a steadying breath. No. This was not going to happen, some idiot was not going to come around here trudging up stuff he has no business being involved in. The past was the past. As far as Jack was concerned, it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.

“I assume I wasn’t your first stop to tell people about this,” Jack said after a moment. Spot nodded.

“I swung by Race’s earlier to tell him. He nearly punched me when I tried to bring it up. Specs was also along the way. He took it a bit better,” Spot said. A half of a smile ghosted Spot’s list. “Elmer took it the best. But he’s always been so optimistic, so that didn’t surprise me.”

Good. His brothers could do whatever they wanted with this information, but at least the knew too.

“And Albert? Dave? Charlie? Their the next stop I’m guessing?”

Spot nodded over to the kitchen. “Just Al actually, then I was gonna head over to Charlie and Anne Marie’s place when I got off shift tonight. Race asked to handle Davey. I figured that was fair. And I also figured Davey’d want to be the one to tell Sarah and Les.”

Jack supposed that was fair as well. The Jacobs sibling case with you-know-how (Jack to this day _refused_ to say his name) was a little different than what the rest of them had. Jack thought it might be best for Davey to hear about this whole thing from his boyfriend than from Spot, whom Davey was only a passing friend with.

“How exactly do you know about this anyway?” Jack asked. “One of your new police connections?”

Spot rolled his eyes and dared a soft laugh. “No, I –uh, I’m friends with his assistant. She gave me a head start, because she knew about what happened to me, so she didn’t want me to be caught off-guard. I figured she wouldn’t mind if I passed it along to you guys.”

Spot had actually told someone about what happened there? That was new.

“You and this girl must be pretty close,” Jack mused. A knowing gleam glinted in Spot’s eyes for a second.

“I guess you could say that.” Spot shook his head. “Look if a guy by the name of Bryan Denton or a girl calling herself Katherine Plumber pop up, don’t be surprised. They’ll try and push you into talking, I’m not going to lie. Especially Katherine. But they won’t make you talk if you don’t want.”

Jack felt a bit of repulsion. How could Spot ever possibly think he would want to talk about what happened? Amongst themselves was one thing, but to a stranger? Fat chance. He had his current life – his jobs, Romeo, trying to keep the lights on and food in the pantry – to worry about without bringing up things best left buried deep down somewhere else.

Eventually Jack just sighed and picked up Romeo’s almost empty plate from the table.

“Look, thanks for the tip Spot,” Jack said, “but I got to get back to work here. Jacobi doesn’t pay me to sit around and look pretty.”

Spot chuckled. The earlier tight air began to fade as the conversation about _that place_ and you-know-who died, to now be replaced by the usual light energy Jack’s exchanges with Spot had.

“I won’t hold you up then,” Spot said. “I still gotta tell Albert anyway, and my sergeant will have my head if I’m on a break too long.”

Jack scoffed. “I still can’t believe Spot Conlon is a _cop_ , especially after all that crap you pulled when we were kids.”

Spot, even amongst their rather rambunctious inter-group, had been the wildest of them. Getting in fights, mouthing off to people he really shouldn’t. There’s an entire year that Jack could honestly claim that Spot was drunk more than he was sober. A building by _that place_ still had Spot’s name sprayed across it as far Jack knew. Never in a million years had Jack seen Spot as the one to go straight and became a cop, never.

But he was, and as far Jack could tell, he was pretty damn good at it. Spot gave a final word of parting before disappearing into the kitchen. Jacobi wouldn’t have a problem with it, Jack knew that and so did Spot. Their little group had basically funded the Jacobi’s Diner in its earlier years, and they had grown close to the middle-aged man through the years.

Jack slowly made his way to the dishwashing station to drop off Romeo’s old plate, trying to shake off any of what happened that might still be messing with him. Nothing felt particularly wrong, but feelings could be sneaky things. They might just pop up later though, Jack knew that from experience. Emotions weren’t just black and white, cause and effect.

At least that’s what the therapist Jack used to go to said, and they seemed pretty smart.

Jack sighed one final sigh and straightened himself back up again, deciding he would just have to deal with all this later. He still had a shift here to finish, one at the bar, and in between all that get Romeo off to Race and Davey’s. He had way too much to do to worry about his stupid emotions.

(It was worth noting the smart therapist had said that was a stupid idea, but Jack chose to ignore _that_ for now too.)

Jack spun on his heel and walked over to where Romeo was still chewing Davey’s head off, determined to leave all this behind for now.

^ **^** ^

If Jack was _this_ close to putting in his twenty-second notice and high-tailing it out of his second job. The Delancey’s Family Bar was by far the worse place Jack had ever been employed at. Pay was bad, customers worse, the owner – Jim Delancey – couldn’t even be bothered to keep good liquor on hand.

Good nights at the bar consisted of a steady stream of customers but not so many they got overcrowded, not too terrible choice of music from the juke book Jim had set up in the corner, and Jim didn’t show up and try running a bar he had no business running.

Tonight, however, was not a good night.

From the minute Jack had stepped behind the counter, people had been coming in by the dozens every hour, asking for more ridiculous or complicated or just plain long drink orders that Jack could hardly keep them straight. The juke box had been playing the same damn song for the past hour, because apparently someone was a little too big of a John Mulaney fan to understand common decency. After the fifth run through the song (some electro-pop thing that severely clashed with the ‘Macho Man’ décor Jim was shooting for), Jack was ready to tear his hair out.

And, of course, Jim Delancey had to show his ass up tonight, throwing out orders that Jack was about 1000% sure he didn’t understand.

Jim – a tall, burly man with a large bald spot and a moustache straight out of _That 70s Show_ – had been an unwelcome presence the whole night. Jim had been hovering over Jack, just waiting for him to mess up, which was putting Jack seriously on edge but he was a fully capable bartender and he didn’t some middle-aged man breathing down his neck to prove it. And considering Jack was already slightly on edge from his conversation with Spot, the combination of all above parts was making the twenty-three-year-old consider just walking out.

And he would too. If he didn’t the job to pay the rent. And the electricity bill. And keep food on the table. And all that other good stuff that kept Romeo and him off the streets.

Jack shook his head and poured a whiskey for the man who had just sat down at the edge of the bar. It was a kind old man named Kenny that came in all the time, and him and Jack had a running agreement that he would always want whiskey. Kenny was a good customer, and considering the Hallstrom the night had been, Jack was more than prepared to see the kind older man.

Jim, however, didn’t seem to understand that.

“What are you doing?” Jim asked in that nasally voice of his. Jack raised an eyebrow and replaced the bottle of whiskey under the counter again.

“Uh, making Kenny a drink,” Jack said. Jim crossed his arms and looked down to where Kenny was sitting. Kenny, ever polite, smiled at Jim and waved, but Jim didn’t wave or smile back, because Jim was _never_ polite.

“You didn’t even know what he wants, Kelly,” Jim said. “You haven’t taken his order yet.”

Jack just barely managed to keep his eyes from rolling. “I don’t need to ask. Kenny comes in every Wednesday at 12:45 after watching his grandson. And ever Wednesday, he gets a glass of whiskey.”

Jim huffed. “You don’t know that, he could want something else and then you’ll have poured a drink no one will have wanted.” Jack gave a surveying look of the crowded room. Jack was fairly certain he could come up with someone else who wanted a glass of whiskey.

“Trust me, Jim, he’ll want the drink,” Jack said. Jim’s temper began to flare, which Jack could tell from the way the veins in Jim’s head started to pop up. They made the shape of a giraffe. It was actually quite amusing. Romeo would laugh if he saw it.

“Ask him,” Jim clipped, eyes shining darkly. Jack sighed, realizing there was no getting out of this. And it’s not even that he had to ask Kenny, it’s that Jim didn’t know what he is talking about and Jack did.

“Fine,” Jack said, turning around. Jack smiled widely at Kenny and quickly hopped down the edge of the bar.

“Hiya Kenny,” Jack greeted, glass of whiskey still clutched in his hand. Kenny smiled at Jack and ran a hand through his graying brunet hair.

“Hey Jack,” Kenny said. Kenny eyed the glass in Jack’s hand thirstily. “Is that my whiskey?”

“Afraid not,” Jack said, giving a sympathetic (and over-dramatic) wince. “At least not yet. Boss says I got to ask ya want you first.”

Kenny shrugged. “Guess that’s reasonable. One glass of whiskey, please.”

Jack turned to Jim, smirk a mile wide and so large anyone within a close radius could see the ‘I told you so’ that was intended behind it. Jim grumbled something under his breath and disappeared into the kitchen, most likely to yell at the closing shift to hurry up. Jack dared a laugh and slid the glass over to Kenny.

“There you go Ken,” Jack said. “Whiskey, no ice, half a glass, just like you like it.”

Kenny gave a grateful sigh.

“Thanks Jack, no one else in this city can pour whiskey like you can.” Kenny’s eyes shone with bright mirth despite his escalating age. Jack laughed and leaned forward onto the counter, resting his chest against his crossed arms.

“Want some grub?” Jack asked. “Last call on the kitchen was about fifteen minutes ago, but I’m sure I can convince’em to make you something. You are, after all, our most valued customer.”

Kenny laughed and took a swig of his drink.

“Nah, just ate back at my daughter’s house,” Kenny said. “Though it is commendable that you volunteered your co-workers.”

“What can I say?” Jack shrugged. “I’m generous like that.” Jack reached for a rag and began wiping the counter. Most people were busy with their drinks or too drunk to worry about another, so despite the packed house Jack found himself in a bit of a quite lull.

“How’s the tyke anyway?” Jack asked. “He’s what? Two?”

Kenny beamed proudly.

“Two and a half,” Kenny corrected. “Starting pre-school next month actually. Lisa couldn’t be prouder.”

“That’s great,” Jack said.

“So? What about Romeo? What’s up with him?” Kenny asked, and now it was Jack’s turn for his smile to brighten.

“Best in class,” Jack said, teeth showing. “Charlie says he can almost read on a first-grade level in kindergarten, which is fantastic.”

Kenny’s grinned into his glass. Jack supposed this was some of why Kenny was his favorite customer. Out of all the regulars, Kenny was the only one to actually try and to talk to Jack and learn about his life. That was a nice kind of curtesy and Jack was glad to have someone that just generally wanted to know about his life. Not because of obligation but out of honest to God compassion. Kenny had said something about a year ago, back when Jack first started, that Jack reminded him of someone he once knew – a young fellow that wore a cowboy hat and had big dreams of his own. Jack wasn’t quite sure how that comparison had worked its way into Kenny’s head – Jack hadn’t worn a cowboy hat since the Halloween before Romeo was born and Jack’s biggest dream currently was to be able to buy peanut butter at Target –but it had, and Jack just let it be.

“Oh, and speaking of Charlie, how is he and Anne Marie doing?” Kenny asked. “I do always love hearing about them.”

Jack scoffed.

“You like hearing about them because you’re a sucker for a sap story, Ken,” Jack said. Kenny gave Jack an innocent look but then winked.

“Hey, when you’re my age, you’ll see that you don’t get lots of excitement,” Kenny said. “Let me live through the tales of you and your friends, okay?”

Jack chuckled.

“Alright, alright,” Jack said. “Charlie and Anne Marie are fine. Anne Marie’s been going on about some senior showcase or whatever, and Charlie’s just started his first year on the job, so things have been a little shaky, but from what I can tell, they’re doing pretty good.”

“How long have they been married again?”

Jack scrunched his brow. Well, Charlie just turned twenty-two in August, so….

“Three years?” Jack guessed. “I’m not sure.”

Kenny took a contemplative sip of his drink.

“She still at NYADA?” Kenny asked, but there was something in his voice. Like Kenny knew something Jack didn’t.

Jack decided to let it slide.

“Yeah, her and Race,” Jack said. “Seniors.”

Kenny nodded approvingly.

“ _Kelly! Get in here!”_

Jack groaned at the sound of his boss’s voice from the back room. Jack have Kenny a quick nod and flagged down a server to take down the bar for the moment.

“It was great seeing you Kenny,” Jack said. “Same time next week?”

Kenny smiled. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

^ **^** ^

“ _Hello?”_

Jack cringed at the sound of Davey’s tired voice, slinging his bag higher up on his shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sorry did I wake you?” Jack asked into his phone, positioning it against his ear more comfortably. Jack hadn’t meant to wake Davey up, but Jack had whipped his phone before he could think to call so he could check on Romeo. Jack should have known that Davey would probably be asleep, it was nearing three-thirty in the morning.

“ _What? Oh, no. I was still studying,”_ Davey said on his end of the line. Jack heard the rustling of papers. “ _I have an exam at two tomorrow, well, today technically. Just getting some last-minute studying in.”_

“I’m sure you’ll do fine on the exam Davey,” Jack said. “You’re like the smartest guy I know.”

Jack kicked the can on the sidewalk in front of him, even though he knew such a practice was rather childish. But, well, he was _really_ tired and just wanted to be home already, so he really didn’t care all that much if he did something childish like a can. Life was short after all.

Davey hummed on the end of the line. “ _While your faith in me is motivating, really it is, I’m assuming you called to check on Romeo?”_

Jack winced apologetically. “That obvious?”

Davey gave a tried laugh between a yawn. “ _You’re concerned about your son, Jack. Honestly, I was surprised you hadn’t called sooner.”_

Jack shrugged and stopped as he came across the front door of his apartment building. It was a rinky old building with a broken window on the floor apartment, with the red paint of the building starting to chip, but hey, the rent was cheap, and it wasn’t too bad of a neighborhood. Jack would take what he would get. Jack opened the door to the building, stuffing the phone between his shoulder and ear as he unlocked the door. The building also apparently was averse to technology because it didn’t have a system to buzz people in – no, you had to actually get a key and unlock the door.

Not particularly safe, but it was what Jack could afford. And again, crime wasn’t bad in this part of Manhattan. Wasn’t good _either_ but wasn’t bad.

“I would have,” Jack said, slipping into the building. “But Jim was on my ass my whole shift. Didn’t get a break tonight, plus we were kinda busy.”

“ _Yeah, yeah, we understand,”_ Davey said. “ _Race and Romeo were a little upset that they didn’t get to do their routine where they got to yell that ‘everything was on fire’ while you called though.”_

Jack laughed lightly and climbed the stairs to the second floor, where his and Romeo’s apartment was. Jack rubbed at his eyes and willed them to stay open as he trudged inside the door, the lock for once not getting caught. Hooray for small miracles.

“He asleep?” Jack asked. Jack was dimly aware that the T.V. in the living room was blasting off some infomercial about sending money to a televangelist, but Jack barely paid it any attention as he flicked off the clunky T.V. set. The only reason Jack even had a T.V. at all was because someone had sold it for twenty-five bucks at a yard sale and Jack had sprung for one of those make-shift satellites to put in the window, which set them up with basically three channels and public television. It kept them informed though, and if push comes to shove Jack supposed a quick buck could be made off selling the old T.V. set.

Jack took one look at the couch and considered throwing himself down straight on the blue item and showering in the morning. Sounded like a good plan to him, but then he was pulled back to reality by Davey speaking into the phone again.

“ _He was out by nine,”_ Davey said. Jack nodded. That was good, not too late. “ _And he has school at seven, right?”_

“Yeah,” Jack yawned, “and they start letting the kids in about six-thirty, so somewhere between there should be good. We usually arrive about 6:45.”

Jack heard more shuffling of papers. “ _Okay, just checking.”_

Jack sat down on the couch, leaning back against the couch’s one pillow. A sense of relief flooded his feet at being able to sit once again and Jack knew the sleep here as he was plan was what his new plan of attack was going to be.

Jack opened his mouth to thank Davey for watching Romeo overnight, when suddenly Jack heard the scrapping of a chair and swish of motion on the other end of the line, and then a soft voice Jack couldn’t make out in the distance.

“ _Romeo?”_ Davey said. “ _Is something wrong? What are you doing up?”_

Jack’s eyes shot up, his exhaustion temporarily forgotten. Was something wrong? Why was Romeo wake at three in the morning? Was he sick? Hurt? Jack’s thoughts ran wild.

“Davey? Is he okay? What’s going on?” Jack asked.

The soft voice – Romeo’s voice, Jack presumed – said something else and Davey spoke again.

“ _Okay, I’ll help you with that in just one moment,”_ Davey said. _“I’m actually talking to your dad on the phone, do you want to talk to him before we do that?”_ Silence. “ _Okay.”_ Davey’s attention returned to Jack. “ _I’m about to put Romeo on, okay?”_

Jack didn’t answer, because soon enough Davey’s voice was replaced by Romeo’s.

“ _Hey Daddy,”_ Romeo said. His voice was thick with exhaustion. He had just woken up apparently, Jack was willing to bet Romeo had Angel clutched to his chest right now. Jack smiled at the adorable thought.

“Hey tater-tot,” Jack said. “What’re you doing up so late? Don’t tell me that Uncle Race and Uncle Davey are letting you stay up past bedtime.”

Romeo yawned, but Jack could hear the faint begins of a laugh in it.

“ _I was thirsty,”_ Romeo said. “ _I wanted a cup of water. Uncle Davey said he’ll help me get it.”_

“Oh, I see,” Jack said. “Well, I just wanted to say I love you, okay? And to tell you to have a good night.”

Jack wanted to keep Romeo on for longer, talk to him for maybe a minute more, but Romeo had school in the morning plus was already really tired – not to mention the fact that Jack was almost pretty much asleep as it was. Romeo really needed to sleep for the day he was about to start in only a few hours.

“ _Alright Daddy,”_ Romeo said, and he yawned again. “ _I love you Daddy.”_

Jack smiled softly, even though Romeo couldn’t see. “I love you too, tater-tot.”

“ _Night-night,”_ Romeo said finally. His voice was soon replaced with Davey’s again.

“ _I’m gonna let you go,”_ Davey said, and Jack could hear motion. Probably Dacey and Romeo were after that glass of water. “ _You sound like you’re gonna pass out.”_

Davey may be on to something.

Jack yawned into the receiver. “Yeah. Look, thanks for taking Rome tonight, I, uh, I really appreciate it.”

“ _Don’t worry about it,”_ Davey said. “ _Me and Race love Romeo, he is our favorite honorary nephew after all.”_ Jack heard Romeo make a sound and Jack laughed, most likely Romeo was correcting Davey that he was his only honorary nephew.

“ _Besides,”_ Davey said, voice lowering so Romeo most likely wouldn’t hear. “ _Race almost always counts down the days between Romeo sleeping at our apartment. Gives him an excuse to convince me to cuddle with him, since it becomes a choice between sharing a bed with him or the couch.”_

Jack laughed again. “Glad me and Romeo could be of service. And cuddle your boyfriend Dave, for goodness’s sake.”

Davey laughed, but his voice was clipped, restrained, almost nervous. “ _Look, I really am going to let you go, bu-but we need to talk. All of us. About what Spot told us all? About this Denton guy?”_

Jack’s heart clenched, and he wanted now more than ever to fall asleep. Jack had feared Davey would have this kind of reaction, actually wanting to talk about what this means and stuff.

“Sure, sure, yeah, uh, later,” Jack said.

“ _Oh, okay then,”_ Davey said. “ _Good night Jack.”_

Davey hung up with that, and Jack was asleep before the phone even fell out of his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came out way faster than I thought it would, but I just had a lot of free time. *shrugs*
> 
> What do you guys think? I know there wasn't a lot of Jack and Romeo interaction in this one, but I tried to fit in as much as I could. It's just the way this chapter worked out, sorry!
> 
> But also notes:
> 
> Race and Davey are dating, because I'm Ravey trash. They started out as roommates and started dating, hence why they have separate rooms, which is why Davey has to choose between a bed with Race or a couch, because they put Romeo in Davey's room to sleep in. 
> 
> I gave Crutchie an OC wife for no particular other reason than to give Romeo some more female role models in his life before Katherine arrived on the scene. Sarah was around, obviously, plus his Grandma Medda, but it felt really biased towards him having a butt-load of uncles, so I wanted to even out the cast out gender-wise. Anne Marie won't be playing a huge role plot-wise, but she'll be seen a couple times. Who she is and why she and Charlie got married so young will be discussed later.
> 
> And Crutchie refers to Charlie, in case that isn't clear. I couldn't think of an honest to God good reason why Crutchie would continue to call himself Crutchie in a modern au, so I decided that he might have as a kid but switched to Charlie when he got older.
> 
> NYADA refers to the fictional New York Academy of Dramatic Arts which I shamelessly stole from the show Glee. My first thought was to ship Race (and Anne Marie) off to Julliard, but NYADA gave me some more mobility with something I wanted to do later on, so let's just say for the purposes of this fic, NYADA is real. Is that okay?
> 
> And Spot is totally a cop, fight me.
> 
> This kinda fell on the short side, but the next chapter should be longer, because we'll be meeting someone! I'm pretty sure you guys know who though, but just prepared. Sass is coming!
> 
> Y'all have a blessed day, and let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  
> \-- PrincessChess


	3. Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spot had lunch with a friend (with benefits) and Jack spends Friday with his son.

“You gonna eat your fries or just stare at them?”

Spot snapped his head up at Katherine’s words and Katherine almost laughed at the surprised expression in his eyes. Spot smiled apologetically and picked up one of his many fries, popping it in his mouth with a make-shift smile Katherine could tell was forced.

“What’s going on Spot?” Katherine asked, pushing aside her plate of food. “You’ve seemed…. off today.”

When Spot had showed up at Katherine’s office door and declared that he was going to lunch with her, Katherine had been excited. Lunch with Spot was normally a fun way to spend an hour after having spent in the stuffy offices of _The New York Times,_ which was a place Katherine was finding with every increasing day was a place not fun to work at it if you were a) not a reporter or b) not an editor. And Spot, with his energy and bright smile, normally was an easy way to recharge before she went back to those boring offices again.

But today, Spot had been much more subdued. He never was the one to engage their conversation and his answers were restrained and small, not at all like the usually very opinionated and expressive Spot Conlon. Most of their lunch had been spent in a quiet silence, which Spot spent the most of looking at his food.

“Sorry Kitty,” Spot said, leaning back in the plastic chair. “I just…. uh, been thinking, that’s all.”

Kitty shifted in her seat. “About what?”

Spot sighed and looked down at his plate, tearing a piece of lettuce off the side of his sandwich.

“That article you told me about?” Spot asked. “The one about…. that one.”

Katherine nodded solemnly and searched for her words very carefully. Katherine didn’t know the full extent of what happened to Spot under the care of his former foster father, but she knew enough to know that this wasn’t a topic Katherine could broach delicately. The only reason that Katherine even knew anything at all was because Spot had started talking in his sleep one night, crying out to leave someone named Race alone. It had taken two months after that for Spot to finally explain what that meant.

“Are you uncomfortable with Bryan going into this?” Katherine asked. “Or me talking to you about it? I can’t stop Bryan, but I can always just leave it at work. We don’t have to talk about it.”

Spot shook his head, still not rising again to look at her.

“No, no,” Spot said. “Bryan trying to investigate this is fine with me. More power to him. And it’s fine, talking to me about it. It’s nice to know what’s going on with it. It’s just –” Spot sighed. “My brothers, they-they all took it in so differently. I’m just thinking about how it’ll affect them.”

Katherine should have expected that. Spot’s myriad of foster bothers (none of whom Katherine had ever actually met) were the most important people in Spot’s life, so Katherine knew the first people he would run out and tell once Katherine told him Bryan was serous about this was them. From what Katherine had gathered, they all had a wide range of personalities. They had probably all taken the news in many different ways.

Katherine took a sip of her drink. “Do think it would be best if we leave them out? Not try to reach out or interview them?”

Katherine could always erase their names from Bryan’s list of possible victims. There was unfortunately so many that she could delete them right out from under Bryan’s nose without him noticing.

Spot was silent for a moment and then shook his head.

“No-no, they – they deserve the right to choose if they want to talk about it,” Spot said. “It’s just what this might do – bringing up old wounds again. I fear that once this is said and done it might do harm to the boys than good.”

Katherine was silent. She wasn’t quite sure what she could say. What _did_ someone say to that?

“I’m not trying to convince you to get Denton to drop the article or anything,” Spot said. He reached across the table to take her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m just worried, that’s all. I’m allowed to be worried, my life story is basically about to be trudged up for the world to see, plus that of my brothers.”

Katherine gave Spot a soft, genuine smile and squeezed his hand in return, putting as much empathy as she could in the gesture. Katherine could relate to how he felt, that storm of emotion about having your life splayed across papers and websites because of something you couldn’t control. Made into a victim all over again and forced to replay the events of what put you their time and time again because people wouldn’t shut up about it. The heavy weight of the ring on her necklace felt heavier at the memory.

It wasn’t a fun feeling, and Katherine didn’t envy Spot – or even any of his mysterious brothers – for soon having to face that.

“It’ll be alright, Sean,” Katherine said, rubbing his knuckles with her thumb. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

Silence fell between them comfortably as they just stared at each other. Katherine knew her words wouldn’t put her friend completely at ease, but at least the tenseness in Spot’s eyes had melted some. The icy edge to his dark eyes had melted away to the almost warmth he usually had.

“So…” Spot said, tone brightening but still not letting go of her hand, “…how is working for the one and only Bryan Denton working out?”

Katherine gave a mix of a huff and a sigh and leaned back again in her chair. Spot chuckled under his breath.

“That bad?”

“ _The worst.”_

It’s not that Bryan was a bad boss – no, as far as people Katherine could have been assigned too as a personal assistant, he was actually quite reasonable. He understood administrative stuff, needing days off and respecting her physical and personal boundaries, something, she, a single woman, unfortunately had feared once she realized she was working for him. It was Bryan the person she had a problem with.

Snotty and just a tad bit self-obsessed, he was reluctant to accept help or feedback on any of his work. Bryan, upon finding out Katherine had a degree in Journalism, had decided that Katherine would help proof-read his articles and drafts, something Katherine had quickly discovered meant just giving a meaningless approval of regardless of if it was bad, a discovery she made after giving one or two valid (at least in her opinion) criticisms on a piece.

And she could understand maybe why her opinion wasn’t taking seriously. She was only a year out from college with her only journalist experience being for a collegiate newspaper; she was still very green in the field. Katherine had yet to pay her dues. But Bryan didn’t take criticism from _anyone_ well – even his editors. Bryan would go into what Katherine called annoyingly ‘Passive Aggressive Mode’ for the rest of the day any time any fault in his work was brought to light. It was no fun for anyone.

“Hey, think of it this way,” Spot said, taking a nibble of one of his fries, “at least you get the next two days away from your boss.”

The reminder that tomorrow was in fact Saturday did bring a smile to Katherine’s face.

“Did you get off this weekend?” Katherine asked. Spot shook his head.

“My day off is actually Saturday this week,” Spot said. “But sarge has me coming in early Sunday.”

“That’s too bad,” Katherine said, swirling the straw in her drink contemplatively.

“Well, the wicked never rest,” Spot said, “and someone’s got to be there to catch them.” Katherine rolled her eyes as Spot threw on a wink for good measure. “I actually start my next shift in….” Spot looked down at his watch, “….an hour? And it’s a twelver, so technically I am working Saturday, I’ll just get off at like two.”

“Got any plans for after you get off?” Katherine asked. Spot’s dark irises begin to shine a bit mischievously and he leaned forward again.

“Why? Do you?” he said playfully. Katherine shook her head and leaned forward too, tilting her head to the side with a smile.

“No, Mr. Conlon, I don’t,” she said, voice intentionally soft, barely above a whisper. Spot’s smiled widened and his foot slid across to meet hers, crossing their ankles together.

“Well, it just so happens Kitty,” Spot said, “that I don’t have any plans either.”

“If that’s the case…” Katherine said. “Why don’t you come to my place after you get off? That way we can do ‘nothing’ together?”

The sound of spending sometime with Spot, doing ‘nothing’, sounded amazing to Katherine. The few weeks since they had last spent a day like that felt like an eternity. It seemed Spot felt similarly, because he gave their still conjoined hands a tight squeeze, smiling a very nice smile that made Katherine very reluctant to wait for ‘nothing’ until the morning.

“That sounds…. _perfect,_ Kitty.”

^ **^** ^

“It’s Friday tater-tot!” Jack said, swinging open the door to their apartment. “You know what that means, right?”

Romeo squealed as he rushed inside, taking off his backpack at lightning speed and rushing to very outdated VHS player at the base of the television. Jack followed after with a soft smile, placing his keys and phone on the kitchen counter. The apartment technically only had four rooms – the main one, which was wide and open with a small kitchen stuffed in the corner by the door, with two small bedrooms to the side, a bathroom quietly tucked between the toy other rooms. Not much, but it was all he technically needed.

“It’s grilled cheese and _Beauty_ night!” Romeo said, rifling through their small piles of VHS tapes. Some people may laugh at Jack for having a VHS, but he had found it at a thrift store for ten dollars with a small variety of somehow still working VHS tapes. Beggars can’t be choosey.

“If your looking for the _Beauty and the Beast_ tape, I’m pretty sure it’s still in the player,” Jack said. He had a dim memory that Romeo had left the tape in the player last Friday. Romeo smiled thankfully at the tip and checked the player, where sure enough the _Beauty and the Beast_ tape was sitting in wait to be rewound.

It was a tradition in the Kelly household; every Friday night they had grilled cheese (Romeo’s favorite food) and watched _Beauty and the Beast_ (Romeo’s all-time favorite film). Jack wasn’t even sure where the tradition had sprung up from, maybe he had miraculously been off multiple Friday nights in a row and started this. Either way, it was a thing now and Jack always requested Friday night off for the purpose of this tradition. And given that Jack already worked long hours and shifts every other day of the week, even Jim Delancey found it within himself to give Jack the night off.

“Now come on tater-tot,” Jack said, walking back to the kitchen. “We’ve got grilled cheese to make before we can watch Belle!”

Romeo smiled, pressing the rewind button, and clamored over to the kitchen counter, taking his spot in his pre-claimed chair. Jack began the process of making the grilled cheese, Romeo talking Jack’s ear off about the latest developments in his life.

Apparently today in class his two best friends Mike and Ike had pretended to be each other for a solid three hours, something Romeo found hysterical, but Jack was sure Charlie found more than a little exasperating. Smalls, Romeo’s other friend, apparently had had a banana for lunch, which Romeo had traded for the cup of strawberries from the school’s cafeteria. Romeo was very excited about that part and so Jack made sure to try and get bananas on his next trip to the grocery store. It seemed Romeo enjoyed them.

It was a nice distraction for Jack. Though he had initially shrugged off Spot’s warnings about the Denton guy, thoughts about what that meant had snuck up in the past few days. If _you-know-who_ was actually still around, not some ghost buried in the ground somewhere, Jack feared what would happen. _You-know-who_ had his claws in places around this whole city. If he was still alive – and he found out Jack might have said something – it would be game over – everything would be over – and God forbid, _you-know-who_ knew about _Romeo_ –

Jack shook his head to clear away those thoughts again. That wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t saying anything anyway.

Jack placed a now-done plate of grilled cheese (plus oranges because Romeo still needed something healthy) in front of the still-babbling Romeo. Romeo was now going on about what him and Uncle Charlie had done after school before Jack had shown up to take Romeo home.

“…and then Aunt Annie told Uncle Charlie that lizards could in fact be up to four feet along!” Romeo said, taking a bit of his grilled cheese. “And that she saw one herself!”

Jack rolled his eyes. “It seems Aunt Annie has seen a lot of stuff.”

Romeo nodded excitedly. “She’s seen _everything!_ One time she told me she saw a mosquito the size of my face!”

Jack took a sip of his glass of water. Anne Marie apparently had seen the greatest offerings the wildlife of the Deep South had to offer, because she was always regaling Romeo with stories about how large or unusual the animals down there were. Jack had a hard time believing some of the things she talked about were real, like the elven-foot water moccasin. But Romeo believed every word, or at least was entertained by it.

“How did this conversation about lizards even start?” Jack asked. Romeo shrugged.

“I was telling Aunt Annie that Uncle Charlie taught us about them at school today,” Romeo said.

“That’s really neat,” Jack said. “What else did Uncle Charlie and you do at school today?”

“Well, we took our spelling test,” Romeo said.

“How do you think you did?” Jack asked. Romeo smiled a great big, toothy smile, nearly beaming with pride.

“I spelled them all correctly!” Romeo said. Jack smiled but pretended to act surprised.

“Really? All of them?” Jack asked. Romeo nodded and hopped off his chair, retrieving the graded spelling paper from his bag before marching back over to Jack with a proud and confident look.

“See Daddy?” Romeo said, shoving the paper forward towards Jack. Jack took the paper from his son and, sure enough, all the words were spelled correctly on the page – even if the handwriting was just shy of being chicken scratch. Even the word ‘Mississippi, which Romeo had been having trouble with. “I spelled all the words right!”

“You sure did,” Jack said, putting the paper down. He grinned the largest and most proud grin he could make, reaching across the counter to ruffle Romeo’s hair. “Looks like we got ourselves a little genius! Soon-to-be spelling champion of New York!”

Romeo tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“What does ‘champion’ mean?” Romeo asked.

“It means you’re the best at something,” Jack said. “For example, one day you’ll be the best speller in all of New York City!”

Romeo giggled. “Daddy! I can’t be the best speller in New York!”

“You’re right!” Jack snapped his fingers. “You’ll be the best speller in the whole wide world tater-tot!”

Romeo laughed again, and Jack felt a warm, loving fire grow in his heart at the sound. Dear God, Romeo’s laugh might just be the most infectious sound in the entire universe. Jack wasn’t sure any sound would be as perfect or as wonderful as his son’s laugh. It was music to his ears to hear, because as long as Romeo could find it in himself to laugh then maybe that meant things weren’t too bad. Romeo had to go without a lot – nearly all the clothes in his closet were hand-me-downs from Davey’s little brother, he hardly ever had a day spent without a babysitter instead of Jack, and Jack could count on more than one hand how many times Jack had to comfort Romeo after the power company cut their lights in the middle of the night.

But-but at least he could laugh. That meant he was happy, right?

Jack hoped that meant Romeo was. He really, really did.

“I can’t be the best speller in the world either!” Romeo said. “There is a lot of kids who are better spellers than me!”

“Like who? Name one!”

“The fifth graders!” Romeo said, before taking the final bite of his grilled cheese sandwich. Jack rolled his eyes and took Romeo’s not empty plate.

“Well, I said ‘soon-to-be’,” Jack said, “which means, you’re not quite the champion yet. Although I think with this perfect score, you might be catching up real fast to those fifth graders.” Romeo smile brightened, and Jack checked the time on the stove, which read that it was nearing six. “Now come on, tater-tot, we’ve got some _Beauty and the Beast_ to watch and if we want to finish before bedtime, we’ve got to hurry with bath time. So, go get your PJs, okay?”

^ **^** ^

It was midnight when Jack woke up on the couch. The movie on the screen seemed to be rewinding, which at first confused Jack because _didn’t he have to rewind that himself,_ before he remembered that this VHS player had been one of the weird, funky ones that did it automatically.

Jack blinked a little bit more awake, becoming aware of a slight pressure against his side and the bundle of warmth that came with that pressure. Romeo’s form became clearer as Jack’s eyes adjusted to the almost darkness, the florescent light of the small television giving a small glow just enough for Jack to see.

Romeo, it seemed was completely asleep, and elected that Jack was to be his new pillow for the night. Jack carefully reached over to the arm of the couch, making sure not to move too much to disturb Romeo’s sleep, and flipped up the time on his cell phone and saw that it was just shy of midnight. Jack put back down the phone and leaned back against the couch, fighting to keep his eyes open.

It would do best to put Romeo to sleep in his own bed. They had to be at Medda’s pretty early (at least for a five-year-old) in the morning and Romeo always slept better in his own bed rather than on the couch. At the same time though, they were both already _so_ tired and the couch really wasn’t _that_ uncomfortable once you thought about it.

Romeo made a sound in his sleep, which pulled Jack back from his thoughts of just returning to sleep. Romeo curled a fist around the fabric of Jack’s dark gray t-shirt, his other arm tightly holding Angel between Romeo’s chest and Jack’s leg, the scarlet of the toy’s soft exterior popping out against Romeo’s yellow pajamas. They were Romeo’s favorite, an ugly excuse for clothes in a mustard yellow and liberally patterned with pictures of green and dark blue polka dots.

Jack yawned and ran a hand through his hair, blinking madly to try and force himself awake enough for the task ahead. Jack reached down and gently shook Romeo’s shoulder, coaxing him slowly out of his dreams.

“Tater-tot….,” Jack whispered softly, “You’ve got to get up and go to bed.”

Romeo yawned and gently peeked open his eyes, still tittering the line between awake and asleep.

“Da-daddy?” Romeo said, the arm holding Angel reflexively pulling the doll closer. Jack smiled comfortingly and rumpled Romeo’s curls in a gentle motion.

“Hey tater-tot,” Jack said, voice just barely daring over a whisper, “it’s time to head to bed don’t you think?”

Romeo nodded or made some other agreeable motion with his head.

“Okay Daddy,” Romeo said. Then he paused, not moving. “Will you carry me?”

Jack grinned and nodded, leaning down to slip Romeo’s arms around his neck. Jack stood, hefting Romeo up into his arms, Angel coming to rest on one of his shoulders due to Romeo’s grip while Romeo’s head rested on the other. Jack shifted his balance carefully at the weight – Romeo was getting harder and harder to carry as the years wore on and he got older. Romeo’s eyes started to flitter closed again, but still, Romeo managed to speak.

“Can I sleep with you tonight Daddy?” Romeo said, sounding very tired and mumbled.

Jack hesitated, staring between the two doors that lead to his room and the one that lead to Romeo’s. The whole point of moving Romeo was to make sure he got a good night’s sleep in his own bed. Sleeping in Jack’s bed would almost be an exercise of futile action. Jack very well could have just kept the both of them on the couch. And Romeo was old enough for his own bed anyway and his own room. Romeo needed to be able to sleep alone when Jack was here with him.

Romeo gave a soft little yawn and shifted his head on Jack’s shoulder, reminding Jack of another sound, a distant one far away, from another time.

“ _Shhh! I just got her down for a nap, Charlie! Can’t you and Jack go and play outside?”_

Jack shook his head.

_One_ night couldn’t hurt, right?

“Of course, Romeo,” Jack said. Jack scooped up his phone from the corner of the couch to put on the charger in his room and walked the two of them towards his room. Jack quickly laid Romeo down, disconnecting Romeo’s arms from around his neck. Romeo took this opportunity to clutch tightly onto his stuffed toy, shifting on his side to face Jack, eyes still shut tightly.

Jack rolled his eyes at Romeo’s actions and plugged in his phone to charge, before crawling into bed next to Romeo, the mattress dipping under the new weight. Romeo shifted closer, burying his head into Jack’s side but otherwise not moving as Jack pulled the worn old comforter over them.

Jack shut his eyes to fall back asleep again, but found his head was spinning. A memory from _that place_ was always guaranteed to send him back into full alert, and tonight’s blast from the past seemed no different. He hadn’t meant to think about _her,_ he hadn’t thought about _her_ in a long while. Weeks, maybe even months. Even when he visited Race – the memory of _her_ was one he had long since learned to ignore.

_Her_ was one of the many reason’s Jack didn’t want to ever trudge up _you-know-who_ and _that place_ ever again. _Her_ had been the tipping point, the thing that had finally broken him and all his brother’s heart beyond what could be fixed. It had taken years for Jack to be able to fall asleep without dreaming of all the nightmarish places _her_ could be at. Jack was fairly certain that Race still couldn’t do it, if the bags under the blond’s eyes told the correct story.

Romeo becoming like _her_ was an ever-present fear in his life. Romeo in so many ways reminded Jack of the _her_ from their earlier years – laughing and playing and full of energy and innocence. And Jack had never been the closest to _her,_ but-but she had been one of them! And then – then –

No.

That would not be Romeo’s future. _You-know-who_ or anyone like him would never get his grubby hands on Romeo, that was a promise Jack had made years ago. And he would keep that promise.

If it was the last thing he ever did.

^ **^** ^

Katherine was startled slightly awake by the feeling of the bed next to her shifting, and at first she was panicked because _holy shit, someone was trying to get into her bed_ but her alertness faded as she saw the dark hair and soft smile of Spot. Katherine smiled and shut her eyes again turning back around and away from him, shifting over slightly on her side to give him some more space.

“Hi Spot,” Katherine said. Katherine could hear shifting next to her as well as feel the pull of the comforter as he settled into the other side of the mattress.

“Hi –” he yawned “—Kitty.”

“How was your shift?” she mumbled into her pillow. Spot moved even closer to her, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer and into his chest. Spot made a grumbling sound and buried his face deep in the groove of her neck.

“That bad, huh?”

“ _The worst,”_ Spot said. Katherine hummed and entwined the one of his hands resting at her waist with one of her own.

“You want to talk about it?” Katherine said. Spot shook his head against the skin of her neck. “Want to go to sleep?” Spot nodded at that.

Katherine settled deeper into the embrace of Spot. She was tried as well – if they were going to do what the discussed in the diner, it would be far better spent doing that when they both weren’t tired, and Spot wasn’t ready to pass out. _That_ would most likely have to wait until at least daylight. Spot’s embrace to sleep in wasn’t anything new – even though they hadn’t slept together in weeks, more than a few times in the interim had Spot slept _by_ her.

Spot had basically taken up co-residence of the apartment. He kept some of his own clothes here because sometimes he would spend days at a time in the walls of her apartment; that was why Spot wasn’t in his officer uniform as he snuggled closer to her on the bed. It was nice, all things considered, having Spot here. Katherine had missed having someone to live with. The transition back to living alone had been a nightmare, because every night she had kept expecting the creaking of floorboards from other inhabitants or warmth on the other side of the bed.

She supposed getting a roommate could have fixed pretty much all her problems except the bed one, but Katherine was never one to do anything by the book. Besides, Spot didn’t seem to mind the arraignment – he was one of her best friends and not to mention _fantastic_ in bed. Out of everyone she could have had this qausi-live-in relationship with, she was glad it ended up being him.

Katherine shifted in his arms to get more comfortable.

“Wait did you do?” Katherine asked.

“Patrol, traffic, that stuff,” Spot listed tiredly. Katherine nodded, at least the bed she could, and buried her head in her pillow. “Helped an old lady with directions. She was nice.”

“That’s fantastic,” Katherine said, sleep beginning to descend upon her. “Good night Spot.”

“G’night, Kitty.” Spot’s voice lowered, saying something else, but Katherine was too tired to make out what it was.

She hoped it wasn’t anything important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all this chapter...was a chapter. That's pretty much all I can say at this point. It took forever to get out because the kitchen scene with Jack and Romeo just wouldn't work right, and .... ugh. And it's even shorter than last time! I tried stretching it out longer but every time I did it, Jack just kept slapping me in the face and saying 'THINK OF THE PACING, THINK OF THE PACING' and well...here we are. 
> 
> Notes:  
> Katherine and Spot are my favorite Newsies crack ship, so I gave that a little shout-out by having them be friends-with-benefits. I think K and S would both at least be good friends if they ever met? Like, I don't know why, I just do. They're both stubborn and passionate, with kind of a rough edge that might rub people the wrong way? I just feel that together they're really passionate. And even if they're strictly friends, I for some reason really think they at least made-out once. IDK, I'm just weird. 
> 
> And Anne Marie and Charlie got a little more background, but not a lot. We will actually get to meet them next chapter, I promise. As well as the beauty that is .... Grandma Medda Larkin. 
> 
> And Mike, Ike, and Smalls! Romeo's friends! The trio will be making appearances later on, so be ready for more Mini Newsies. 
> 
> And, any thoughts on who 'her' is?....
> 
> Any questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know!   
> Hope y'all have a blessed day!  
> \-- PrincessChess


	4. The Sound of Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The extended family has got a new extended brother, Halloween plans are talked about, and Spot and Katherine have some alone time.

“You excited for Grandma’s?” Jack asked. Romeo smiled next to him and swung their connected hands out, wind blowing his hair. The morning autumn sunlight shone on them from between parted clouds. The sun kept the temperature above 60 degrees, but Jack knew winter was just a few weeks away, and Romeo had outgrown his coat from last year, and because of school he really needed a good one now. Jack shook his head to clear away that thought – focus on autumn and today.

“I can’t wait!” Romeo said. Angel – whom Romeo never left behind unless it was for school – swung on the other side of Romeo, the toy just barely managing to not scrape the ground. “I love Grandma!”

“Now, remember tater-tot,” Jack said, turning onto the street with Medda’s house, “there is always a lot of people at Grandma’s when we visit on Saturdays, so don’t be upset if she doesn’t spend the whole time with you, okay?”

Romeo nodded but Jack had his doubts. Medda once a month managed to wrangle at least most of their small band of brothers for ‘quality time’ or some other thing like that. It was all in all a nice gesture, it allowed some of them to keep continuous contact because sometimes with their schedules and general craziness of life they didn’t get to see each other a lot. Jack generally didn’t go that often, because he usually had a Jacobi shift on Saturday morning that lasted until the end of the day, but when he did, he was always quick to notice how Romeo flittered around, trying to get as much attention as possible.

“And remember that Uncle Race is going to take you home this afternoon, okay?” Jack said. Romeo nodded and started to hop up the steps to Medda’s house, letting go of Jack’s hands.

“Okay,” Romeo said, but then he frowned. He turned back around to face Jack. “Why?”

Jack held back his tired sigh. “I have to work this afternoon, so Uncle Race is going to watch you at our house.”

“Will Uncle Davey be there?” Romeo asked. Jack shook his head and followed Romeo up the steps to Medda’s front door.

“No, Uncle Davey has to work too,” Jack said. Davey didn’t work at the diner nearly as much as Jack did, but Davey was still a very broke college student. He still pulled more than his share of shifts. Romeo gave an understanding nod as Jack knocked on the ruby colored front door, and Jack tried to ignore the flash of disappointment in Romeo’s eyes.

The door opened to reveal a light-haired boy Jack had never seen before, but that didn’t surprise Jack. Medda was still within the foster system, this was most likely a kid that had been put in her care.

“Who are you?” Jack asked, reaching to take Romeo’s hand instinctively. He had nothing against this boy, but sometimes paternal instinct overrode trust.

“I’m Finch,” the boy said. The boy – Finch – tilted his head to the side. “Who are you?” Jack smiled.

“I’m Jack Kelly,” he said, reaching out a hand to shake. Finch didn’t move to take Jack’s hand, instead his right digits fidgeted at his side but remained put. Jack gave a small nod to himself and pulled his hand back. Finch wasn’t a handshaker. Noted.

“I’m Romeo!” Romeo announced, smiling ear-to-ear, excited to meet a new person. Romeo held up Angel so Finch could see. “And this is Angel!”

Finch’s lips flirted with a smile.

“You one of Medda’s new kids?” Jack asked. Finch nodded, and Jack walked forward and past Finch, patting him on the back as he passed. “Well, I’m one of the old ones. Welcome to the family Finch.”

Finch’s nose wrinkled and he looked down at Romeo and then back at Jack, shutting the door in confusion. The second the door was shut, Romeo tore his hand from Jack and hurried down the hall, disappearing around the corner, where a series of loud sounds seemed to be coming from.

“Tater-tot, wait –!”

But Romeo was already gone. Jack sighed but didn’t go after him; he would be safe with the uncles and Medda.

“Family?” Finch said, just above a whisper. He shook his head. “I just got here last night.”

Jack smiled at Finch good-naturedly. “Been chaotic, hasn’t it?”

Finch hesitated, but then nodded softly. Jack supposed it must have been strange, your first full day in a foster home spent with the chaos that was the extended Too-Many-Last-Names-To-Count family they were. It would be hard to settle in, Jack supposed.

Jack gave the kid a critical look. He was thin, thin enough to cause worry but not enough to be dangerous. The kid had a small, white scar peeking out from the collar of his t-shirt. His eyes were gaunt, but his cheeks still had a bit of baby fat to them. The tip of his nose had a fading sunburn, the remnants of said sunburn prevalent on his cheeks and neck. He was young, probably not much older than Les, Davey’s not quite a baby anymore brother.

“How old are ya, kid?” Jack asked, raising a brow.

Finch fiddled with his fingers nervously. “Fifteen, sir.”

Jack’s eyes shot open and he felt his heart clinch at being called ‘sir’. He was not a _sir,_ nor would he ever claim to be one.  

“Sir? Kid, I’m not a sir. Don’t worry about calling me that.”

Finch looked uneasy, and opened his mouth to say something, but never go to say it.

“Jack!” The blond head of Race appeared from around the corner, lips pressed into a frown. “Come get your kid, he’s sprouting nonsense about lizards being four feet long.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Blame Anne Marie. She’s the one who told him that.”

Race’s eyes narrowed. “That is my _wife_ , she shall remain blameless in my eyes.”

Jack sighed. “Race, she’s not your wife.” Race tsk-ed.

“Details!” Then he disappeared again around the corner.

“Kid?’ Finch said. Finch squinted down at the end of the hall, like he could see someone standing there. “Is Romeo your kid or something?”

Jack nodded his head. “Romeo’s my son.”

Finch gave Jack a once-over, as if checking to make sure it was possible Jack could have kid. Jack got this kind of thing more than he would have liked. People always told him he looked too young to have son, which Jack always found ridiculous because inside he felt about a thousand years older than twenty-three. Eventually Finch just shook his head and looked down at his feet.

“I’m guessing you’ve already met some of the others?” Jack said, leading the two of them down the hall. Finch nodded.

“There was that Race guy and the brunet dude with the book, I think his name was Daniel or something?”

“Davey.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Him. He came in with a girl who kinda looked like him named Sarah and then a mini version of him who was grumbling about something called Les. There was a guy with crutches named Charlie who came with a very loud girl, and then she immediately pulled a red-haired guy into the kitchen the second he got here, so I don’t know their names. Then a dude with glasses. He won’t tell me his name.”

Jack nodded. Of course, only his crazy brothers and sisters would show up on Finch’s first day here.

“I’m guessing it’s utter chaos?” Jack asked, stopping at the corner. The sounds of the living room were louder now that they were only one turn away from the craziness that was unfolding. Finch looked unsure, not quite certain that he wouldn’t offend Jack before nodding with a soft smile.

“Uh, yeah,” Finch said. Jack laughed and turned.

“Yeah, our brothers are crazy.”

“Wait, _our_ brothers–”

True to form, the living room was in almost complete chaos when Jack arrived. Davey sat on the couch, with a book vaguely resembling a review book for MCAT, eyes scrunched together as he tried to read the book. His boyfriend was across the room, talking to Charlie about something in a loud voice. Charlie seemed more concerned with Romeo, who was curled in Charlie’s lap, playing with Angel and talking about something, most likely lizards. Specs and Sarah were engaged in a very disruptive game of checkers in the middle of floor, barely keeping in obscenities for Romeo’s sake. Les – who was fourteen and considered himself _too cool_ for anything – sat in the corner, scrolling through his phone with a scowl.

“The dude with the glasses we call Specs,” Jack said, pointing at Specs for Finch’s benefit. Specs looked up from his game, putting a hand on his chest over-dramatically.

“Geeze Jack,” Specs said, completely missing Sarah stealing one of his red pieces. “Betrayed by my own older brother.”

Jack sighed deeply and sat down next to Davey, sending a glance over to where Romeo was still with Charlie and Race. Finch looked uneasy for a moment, looking between all the disruption, before taking a seat on the couch. Davey didn’t look up from his book, still too invested in the contents to notice Jack.

“Hey Jack,” Sarah greeted, acting like the only reasonable human being for once. “Been awhile since you’ve shown up to one of these.”

Jack shrugged. “Sorry Sarah, I had to work. I just now it’s been _awful_ not being able to see my gorgeous face.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and turned back to her game of checkers, catching Specs as he not-so-subtly tried to swipe one of her pieces of the board unprompted.

“Hey, Jack?” Charlie asked, peeking from behind Romeo’s head. “Could you _please_ not flirt with my boss? She can and will fire me if you break her heart.” Sarah laughed and stuck out her tongue at Charlie playfully.

Romeo tilted his head and looked up at Charlie in confusion. “Uncle Charlie, what does ‘flirt’ mean?”

“It means you really, really like someone, so you try to impress them,” Charlie said, and Romeo nodded. Race leaned forward at this point, eyes bright with humor.

“It’s like the kind of stuff I say to your Uncle Davey over there,” Race said, nodding with his head towards where Davey was still on the couch. Suddenly from across the room came a highlighter, which hit Race directly on the side of the head.

“Dave!” Race said, scandalized.

“Yes dear, what it is?” Davey asked, tearing away from his book finally.

“You threw your highlighter at me!”

Davey looked at his side, where his yellow highlighter was missing from its spot on the couch next to him. His eyes widened as he realized it was gone.

“I did?”

“No, _I_ did,” Jack said. Race feigned hurt and thrust himself backwards, hitting the back of his chair with a soft thud. “Quit talking about your love life with my five-year-old.”

Romeo made a pouty face and crossed his arms. “But I want Uncle Race to talk about his ‘love life’!” Romeo turned to Charlie now, lowering his voice secretively. “What’s a love life?”

Jack stood and walked over to Romeo, taking Romeo out of Charlie’s lap to hold him, Angel being left with Charlie because, as Romeo says, “ _Uncle Charlie can be trusted with Angel”_ which was a honor no other uncle got.

“A love life is about two people who kiss and send each other heart candies and talk about mushy stuff like Valentine’s cards,” Jack said. “Did I mention kissing? Because they do that a lot.” Romeo’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “On the lips and stuff too.”

“ _Ew!_ Why would you want to kiss someone? _On the lips?_ ” Romeo asked, looking downright appalled at the idea. Jack smiled to himself. It seemed Romeo ‘like-liking’ someone was far off down the line at this admission. Jack pressed a kiss to his temple.

_“_ Ew is right tater-tot,” Jack said, feigning disgust. “Kissing someone is _gross_.”

“Yeah, just ask Les,” Sarah said, looking over at Les with a bright smile. “He’s been kissing someone a lot lately.”

“ _Oooohhh!”_ Race said, clapping his hands together. “Does little Mister Les Jacobs have a sweetheart?”

Les looked up from his phone with a frown. “That’s none of your beeswax, Racetrack.”

“He called me Racetrack!” Race said triumphantly. “He’s annoyed! He totally has someone on the side!”

Jack sighed and looked over at Finch, who looked ready to have a panic attack from all the yelling. While Les and Race continued yelling back forth (with an occasional comment from Davey, one’s brother and one’s boyfriend respectively), Jack made his way to Finch, securing his hold on Romeo.

“How’s about the three of us go check on Medda and the others?” Jack asked Finch. Finch, who looked very grateful for the excuse to leave this madness, nodded and stood, following Jack into the kitchen without a word.

Turns out the kitchen wasn’t that much better than the living room.

“Anne Marie, it is not safe to use _that_ much Crisco –” Albert was saying, staring down at a pan of not-yet-cooked biscuits. Anne Marie cut him off with a scowl.

“This is how my granny made it, so _that’s_ how it will be done –” Medda, who was watching with a fond smile, cut the both of them off.

“Ladies, ladies, you’re both _very_ pretty, now Albert can you please let Anne Marie make her biscuits?” Medda said. “She hasn’t made them in months and we both know they’re the only reason Race showed up today.” Albert sighed while Anne Marie gave a dazzling smile that just scram _I won!,_ even if the woman didn’t say it, her red ponytail flipping behind her as she turned to put the pan in the oven. Both Albert and Anne Marie were red-headed, but while Albert’s was a softer color like that of fire, Anne Marie’s was darker, tittering the edge of plain red and auburn.

“I don’t know Medda,” Jack said, “I kinda wanted to see Al and Annie go another round. A repeat of Fourth of July 2017.”

Medda turned at the sound of Jack’s voice, taking in Jack, Romeo, and Finch at the edge of the kitchen. She smiled.

“Jack!” Medda greeted, walking over to them. “Romeo! I feel like I haven’t seen you two in ages!”

“It’s great to see you too,” Jack said. Romeo began fighting his way out of Jack’s arms, wanting to get into Medda’s to give her a hug; his elbow barely missed Jack’s eye. “Okay, okay tater-tot, calm down.” Medda received Romeo easily, smiling down at him maternally as Romeo hugged her around the neck.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite grandson Romeo,” Medda said, eyes crinkling with a smile. Romeo laughed.

“Grandma I’m your _only_ grandson,” Romeo pointed out, eyes rolling in a way that told Jack he had picked up that habit from one Racetrack Higgins.

“Either way, I’m still glad to see you honey,” Medda said, kissing Romeo’s cheek with a smile. “It feels like forever since I last saw you!” Jack bit the inside of his cheek.

“Sorry ‘bout that Medda,” Jack apologized. “I’ve just been busy with work and –” Medda rolled her eyes in a way that made Jack think maybe it was Medda after all who taught Romeo the skill, setting Romeo back onto his feet and waving off Jack’s concern.

“Jack, I understand!” Medda said. Romeo took off to the other side of the kitchen, where Albert and Annie Marie had resumed bickering in whispers over something to do with grits.

“ _They’re disgusting Anne Marie!”_

_“They’re God’s gift to this Earth Albert!”_

Romeo said something quietly that made Albert smirk, most likely agreeing with Albert in this particular argument.

“I see you’ve met Finch,” Medda said, turning her smile on the younger boy. Jack nodded and moved to sling an arm across the boy’s shoulders, but then remembered Finch’s hesitation at shaking a hand in the doorway and refrained from the action.

“Yeah, he said he just got here last night, isn’t that right Finch?” Jack said, looking to Finch for confirmation. Finch fidgeted nervously.

“Oh-uh, yes sir, that’s right,” Finch said. Jack’s heart clenched again at being called sir.

“Finch, kid, I’ve already told you, don’t worry about calling me sir,” Jack said. His voice was a bit tighter and forceful than he would have liked, but _sir_ was not a word he ever wanted applied to himself. Finch bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, looking at his dingy sneakers with a sheepish expression.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” Finch said. “Force of habit.” There was a slight quiver in his voice and Jack felt a different kind of pain in his chest. He hadn’t meant to upset Finch. Jack opened his mouth to apologize, but Medda beat him too.

“Finch, honey, don’t worry.” Medda’s smile radiated warmth, and it managed to draw Finch’s head up from the floor. “I’m sure Jack didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, we understand some things are hard to unlearn.”

“Oh, uh, okay, Miss Medda.” Finch bit his thumb and Jack felt a knife twist in his stomach.

Albert, apparently oblivious to the conversation going on between the three of them, appeared at Medda’s elbow.

“Hey, Medda, do you know if Spot’s coming?” Albert asked, raising a brow. “Anne Marie included him in her biscuit count, and we want to know if we’re making too many.” Medda shrugged, past conversation temporarily forgotten.

“I talked to him yesterday and said he wasn’t,” Medda said. “But you never know with him, he might show up.” Medda’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Besides Albert, if Spot doesn’t show, I’m sure Race will be more than willing to eat Spot’s share.”

Albert rolled his eyes. “How is it that I’m the one actually in school to be a cook, and Race likes her food more?”

“Because I’m actually good at it?” Anne Marie teased, but there was no malice in her face. Albert narrowed his eyes and then looked at where Romeo was watching Anne Marie mix something in a bowl.

“Hey, Romeo, you want to help me fight Anne Marie?”

_“Yes!”_

“ _NO! Tater-tot, no!”_

^ **^** ^

“You’re humming,” Katherine noted. Spot looked up from where he was scrapping cream cheese across his bagel on the other side of the kitchen, raising a brow, his hum silencing at her words. Katherine frowned. She hadn’t meant from him to stop; Spot’s soft hum was actually a very nice sound to hear, she had been enjoying listening to it.

“Yes, I am. So?” Spot said, finishing with the cream cheese and putting it away. Katherine shrugged from her seat at the kitchen table, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Just thought it was nice,” Katherine said. “You don’t hum often.”

“Well, I only hum when I’m happy,” Spot said, walking towards her with bagel in hand, “I don’t have reason to hum often.”

Katherine tilted her head to the side as he took a seat next to her.

“Well, then what reason do you have today?” Katherine asked. Spot smiled his crooked smile and nibbled on a small bite of his bagel.

“You,” was all he said. “I love spending time with you Kitty.” It was simple, really, what he said, but a part of his tone unnerved her. There was something in his eyes she didn’t understand in it, some emotion barely detectable to catch let alone name, but whatever it was put an uneasy feeling in her stomach, an uneasy feeling that scared her but excited her a little bit. Katherine turned away from Spot and back down at her coffee, which was much less confusing to stare at.

Katherine cut a glance at her phone on the table to see it was just past 9:30, which meant they still had the whole rest of the day ahead of them.

“Anything specific you want to do today?” Katherine asked, swiping the other half of his bagel. Spot made a strangled sound at her motion but didn’t try to take it back.

“Eat a whole bagel?” Spot said. Katherine rolled her eyes.

“I have _more_ Spot,” Katherine said.

“Just teasing you Kitty,” Spot said. Katherine took a large sigh and bit off a huge bit of the bagel.

“Isn’t that the truth…” Katherine mumbled under her breath. Spot was the master of the tease, and not just with his words but with his actions – always pulling her in but pulling himself back at the right time whenever they got intimate. It was frustrating to say the least and she never missed a chance to express that. Spot’s smile shifted wickedly and dropped his food back onto the plate.

He pushed aside a loose ringlet that had fell out of her messy bun behind her ear.

“Something wrong Kitty?” he asked, eyes darkening. Katherine’s stomach flopped excitedly, and she leaned closer to Spot.

“Nope,” Katherine said, popping the p. Spot scoffed, his breath hot on her nose.

“Liar,” Spot said. Katherine huffed.

“Tease,” she shot back. Spot rolled his eyes but then leaned completely forward, meeting her lips with his quietly. Katherine smiled into the kiss, closing her eyes unconsciously as Spot pulled her closer, one of his arms slipping around her waist. Katherine leaned back just a little to deepen the kiss, hands finding their way into his short strands of dark hair. Spot’s hand pulled at the bottom of her shirt, asking permission, but her answer was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing, which effectively killed the moment around them.

Katherine growled angrily and tore her eyes at her phone, where lo-and-behold it was the one and only Bryan Denton trying to get her on her day off.

“I would say you could always ignore it,” Spot said, arms still wrapped tight around her, “but I know you and know you won’t. So, go ahead and answer it.” Katherine frowned. Did Spot really think she would choose work over spending time with him?

“It’s my day off –”

“No, really, it’s fine,” Spot said, finally letting go of her and rising to stand. “It’s going to bother you all day you didn’t answer. And besides, work is more important than me making out with you Kitty. If Sarge were to call me up right now and say he needs me, I would go.”

Katherine bit her lip, hovering over the accept call button. “You sure?”

“I’m sure,” Spot assured. Spot made his way to her couch, flopping on his back with a soft thud. “I’m still kinda tired, so I’ll just rest here until you get done.” For extra measure, he shut his eyes with smirk. Katherine sighed in exasperation but slid to answer the call.

“ _Katherine!”_ Bryan said as means of greeting. “ _I need your help with something!”_

Katherine leaned back in her kitchen chair. “Bryan, it’s Saturday.”

“ _I meant on Monday!”_ Bryan said. Though Katherine couldn’t see, she was sure Bryan had rolled his eyes – he had that tone he always did when he rolled his eyes. “ _I just finalized the first round of potential interviewees. I was hoping you could reach out to some of them, to see if they wanted to come in.”_

Katherine raised a brow Bryan couldn’t possibly know about.

“You want me to schedule appointments?” Katherine said.

“ _Yes, well, um, yes, basically. Yes.”_

Katherine felt a deep, beleaguered sound rise from her chest.

“Bryan, couldn’t this have waited until Monday?” Katherine asked.

“ _No!”_ Bryan said, voice dripped with excitement. “ _I just wanted to go ahead and give you the names, that way on Monday we cut that time in half.”_

Katherine, who knew there was no ‘we’ but a ‘her’, didn’t raised an argument, knowing it would be futile.

“Alright hold on,” Katherine said. “Let me get some paper to write them down.”

“ _No need, I’ll just send you the list.”_ Well, why didn’t he just send a text in the first place then?

“Okay, thanks, I’ll look over it.”

“ _Bye Katherine!”_ Then the line went dead. Katherine let the phone drop onto the counter with thinly held in annoyance. What was the point of that phone call? Why didn’t he just send her the list with an explanation in the text? Why must her boss be such a drama queen?

Her phone pinged immediately after, altering her that Bryan had sent her the list of names.

“What did he want?” Spot asked as Katherine opened the message.

“Says he has the first list of people he wants to interview for…. the article,” Katherine said. Spot’s expression shifted to something almost like fear, but then he spoke.

“If-if it’s not-not too much, c-can you tell me who it is?” Spot asked. His voice was tight and worried, like something was suddenly restricting his lungs from speaking. Katherine weighed her answer for a moment – Bryan wouldn’t like her doing it, but Spot wasn’t asking much.

“Okay,” she eventually said. She dropped her eyes to the screen, happy to escape Spot’s fearful gaze. “Hannah Young, Maria Anderson, Ryan George, Jeremy White, and Jack Kelly.” Katherine looked up at Spot, eyes questioning but gentle. “Do you know any of them?”

Spot let out a deep breath, some of his fear disappearing. Katherine realized he might have been afraid his name was on the list, and Katherine felt her stomach drop. W-would Spot talk about his experience with Bryan? With everything Katherine knew about Spot, probably not.

“Just one,” Spot said. His voice sounded younger much farther away. “The last one, Jack. Lives in Manhattan.” Spot’s lips twisted into what was reminisce of a fond smile. “He’ll-he’ll be hard to convince to come in.” Katherine felt a selfish part of her get annoyed, though she knew it was wrong. She had no right to force someone to talk about a place that terrible, if Spot’s claims about were true, but she also dreaded the attitude Bryan would get if everyone said no.

“Great,” Katherine said. “Anything else I should know about this Jack Kelly?”

“Just that…. don’t be surprised by what you find when you go looking for him,” Spot said. “He’s-he’s been through a lot, way more than he should have for someone our age. Out of all my brothers, he’ll be the hardest to crack. Don’t push him too hard, because he’ll push back.” Katherine’s eyes widened. Jack was one of Spot’s brothers?  

“I’ll…. I’ll keep that in mind,” Katherine said sincerely. Spot nodded once, a kind of grateful light shining in his eyes. Grateful for what, Katherine wasn’t sure.

“Thank you, Kitty,” Spot said, and again, Katherine wasn’t sure what Spot was thanking her for. A quiet moment passed, but then Spot shook his head.

“Now, I believe we were in the middle of something a moment ago?” Spot said, smirking on the couch. His expression seemed to take a one-eighty, any remainder of their past conversation gone from his face and his words. “Something important?”

Katherine grinned back at him. That selfish part of her that was annoyed also was ready to let the previous moment, and for now, she let it take control. She crossed over to the couch, a grin dripping off her face as she sat down.

“Yes, I believe we were.”

And then, he kissed her again.

^ **^** ^

It was _loud._ Very loud in Medda’s dining room table where all of them, including Elmer, who had finally shown up just as Race began a second round of asking if the biscuits were done, had crowded around to eat breakfast. Several knees and elbows continued to be knocked into each other as they maneuvered around plates and food, and about three different conversations were happening at the same time, but Jack still found himself enjoying the noise.

On his right side was Romeo, who was for now ignoring the apples Jack had put on his plate in favor of his toast, and talking to Charlie, who was on Romeo’s other side. Angel sat promptly in Romeo’s lap, a napkin over the toy in case of a spill. Somewhere along the line it was Finch who actually ended up sitting on the other side of Jack, as Finch had taken the seat quickly with a confused and a bit panicked expression. Finch was a bit quiet it seemed, picking at his food with a thin frown.

Jack gave Finch a cursory glance but was unsure how to start a conversation with him. He really didn’t know much about his newest brother (which he _was_ , any new kid brought in under Medda automatically earned a spot in their family tree), since Jack had only met him this morning, but at the same time, he wanted to make Finch feel more ease.

“Hey, Daddy!” Romeo said. His voice rang loud and clear next to Jack, even over the din of Anne Marie and Albert bickering at the end of the table.

“Yes tater-tot?” Jack asked.

“Can I be ladybug like Angel for Halloween?” Romeo said. Jack hesitated for just a moment. All in all, it would be a simple costume to make – find a red shirt with polka dots, and just about every store had antenna and black masks for cheap.

“Oh, uh, yeah sure,” Jack said. But then he blinked in surprise to himself and tilted his head to the side. “Why?” Why was Romeo asking now all of the sudden? Halloween was a bit away.

Romeo smiled and pointed at Race across the table. “Because Uncle Race said he wanted to be an astronaut for Halloween!”

Why was Race talking about Halloween? Jack did the math in his head, and then felt his stomach drop. Halloween was just a week away. He needed to get on that ball quickly, before Romeo didn’t have even a slither of an excuse for a costume. A needle poked at his gut – would he have to work Halloween? This was the first year Jack was going to let him trick-or-treat, a promise Jack had made last year when Romeo had cried for an hour over not getting to go despite being too young for Jack’s taste to do it. Five seemed liked a reasonable age – if he could go to school, then Jack supposed he was old enough to trick-or-treat.

Jack pushed away those thoughts for now. He could consider that later when he got to Jacobi’s that afternoon, when he got his schedule for the week for the diner. Then he would worry about that, but for now, at least, he just decided to let the moment pass. There was no way to change it now, it was too late to request a schedule change without uprooting the whole thing for someone else.

So, ignoring the twinge of panic in his gut, Jack put on a smile and ruffled Romeo’s hair with a smile.

“Well you can’t be a ladybug or do anything until you eat your apples,” Jack said, shifting his gaze to the unfinished apple slices. “If you’re going to go trick-or-treating this week, you have to eat all your fruits and vegetables until then, okay?” Romeo nodded, stone-faced and serious, and descended upon his apple slices, not willing to give up an opportunity for free candy. Jack was going to take him regardless, but he would take any opportunity he could to get Romeo to eat healthy.

Race, who was in the middle of eating his third biscuit, smiled from across the table.

“So, Jackie, what’re you going to be for Halloween?” Race asked, mouth full of biscuit. Jack wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“Firstly, Race, don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s gross, and I know Miss Medda raised us better than that,” Jack said. Medda laughed at the other end of the table at that final comment. “And secondly, I might not dress up.”

“But Daddy!” Romeo said, voice pleading. “You have to dress up! It’s Halloween!”

“Yeah, Jack, it’s Halloween!” Charlie said, smiling over Romeo’s head. Jack rolled his eyes at Charlie and pushed his face away.

“Well me Annie are going to dress up,” Charlie said, motioning to his wife, who had yet to pull back from arguing with Albert over something. “Isn’t that right Annie?”

“What?” Anne Marie asked, spinning around to face Charlie. Charlie smiled widely.

“We’re dressing up for Halloween,” Charlie clarified.

“Oh, uh, yeah we are,” Anne Marie said. “What are we going as again?”

“Andie and Duckie from _Pretty in Pink,”_ Charlie said, just a tad bit exasperated. It seemed Charlie and Annie Marie had had this conversation before.

“Oh, that’s right,” Anne Marie said.

“What’s _Pretty in Pink_?” Romeo asked in between bites of apples.

“It’s a movie,” Jack said, swallowing his sip of coffee. “And no, before you ask, you’re not old enough to watch it.” Jack couldn’t remember anything bad per say in the film besides a few choice words, but it still wasn’t the best film to entertain a child with. Romeo deflated a little but didn’t drop his smile.

“What about you Al?” Race asked. Race leaned his elbow on Davey’s shoulder, an action Davey was none the wiser too because he was too involved in trying to get Les to stop grumbling about something. “You dressing up this year?”

Albert shrugged and leaned back in his chair, poking his eggs.

“I don’t know,” Albert says. “I don’t got a costume, and it seems too late in the game to scrape one up.” A fair reason, Jack thought, it was the same reason Jack wasn’t dressing up.

“Well me and Dave are,” Race said, beaming. “I’m going to be an astronaut and Dave’s going to be Marv the Martian!”

This began a quick around the table on what everyone was going to be for Halloween, with ideas being floated for the non-costume wearers (Jack, Al, and Les), which Race called rather affectionally ‘the fun police’. Romeo just watched with a laugh every once and a while, seemingly excited by the sudden swell of the conversation, and Jack mostly held back from the conversation, content to let the conversation be led by Race (astronaut), Specs (Green Lantern), and Medda (a witch) as they talked about the approaching holiday.

Jack also noticed that Finch was being steadily quite as well, staring down at his food with seemingly little interest in the conversation going on around him. Jack felt a tug on his heart. Maybe Finch needed a push to be involved in the conversation. So, when a quiet moment popped up, Jack decided now was his chance.

“So, Finch, are you going to do Halloween this year?” Jack asked. Finch looked up in surprise, maybe being addressed or at the question, Jack wasn’t sure. Then Finch looked back down at his food.

“No,” Finch answered softly.

“Why not?” Race said, leaning forward across the table. Elmer (a unicorn) smiled too, taking a quick sip of apple juice.

“It’ll be a lot of fun!” Elmer said. Their was a kind energy to his voice, so palpable that even Finch, who was still obviously not excited, cracked the barest of smiles before it disappeared.

“Snyder said good kids don’t do Halloween,” Finch whispered. It was soft, but it was the words heard across the whole room. Everything stopped, it was like the wind was knocked out of everyone at what Finch said. Then, it was chaos.

Charlie’s eyes widened at the same time Anne Marie reached to take his hand, another one reaching out to Albert, who took it despite their fighting. Race sucked in a tight breath, hands balling into tight fists. Davey’s hand flew to his chest almost of its own accord, and he watched as Sarah’s eyes lingered on where Davey’s hand was. Les yelped and clutched tight to his jacket. Specs just remained frozen as Elmer sprang up from his seat, eyes wide in panic. Medda tried to calm everyone done, but Jack wasn’t quite sure what she was saying.

All that could go through his head was _He’s alive, He’s alive, He’s alive._ The thoughts became faster and faster and panic overtook him. Snyder’s alive, Snyder wasn’t – he was really real. Not a ghost. He was an actual player in the game of life, not a retired piece.

“Daddy?” a soft voice asked, and Jack was aware of a hand being placed on his arm. This pulled Jack back from his thoughts just enough to see Romeo, a fearful and confused Romeo, staring back up at him. Jack’s breath hitched again. “Daddy, what’s going on?”

Jack didn’t know what to say, what to do. Ho-how? How did he explain why everyone was afraid of what Finch said? Ho-how did he go about saying that they were afraid? What the power the name Snyder held meant for him and all of Romeo’s uncles? _How?_

Turns out he didn’t have to answer, because the next thing Jack knew Romeo was being taken out of his view. At first, Jack panicked, before he saw that it was Anne Marie trying to lead Romeo off the chair, which lessened Jack’s panic just a little. Anne Marie have a small nod, maybe meant to reassure Jack, maybe not, he wasn’t sure.

Then Romeo was walking out of dining room, Angel clutched in his hands as Anne Marie left with a final kiss to Charlie’s temple and a smile. Jack watched the door shut behind Romeo and Anne Marie with a smile, and a minute later he heard a ping on his phone. Probably Anne Marie telling Jack where the two of them were going – the backyard most likely, which Jack was right about once he checked his phone.

The whole room was silent for a moment, Medda looking between them all in worry, but then Finch spoke.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean to –”

“Finch, honey, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Medda said. Then they were silent again. No one was quite sure what to say, so that was all the did. Just sit in silence.

Silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:  
> This chapter ends so anti-climatically and I apologize, but this chapter was hard to find a natural conclusion for. I didn't have anything else for them to say or do, but at the same time the last few lines just feel kinda....off? IDK, tell me what you think. 
> 
> And most of them we won't see all of the extended family at once, but even big families get altogether sometimes. It'll be explained in-universe how the 'family' came to be and how you get added, etc., but for now it's just The Too-Many-Last-Names-Too-Count family. Also, Medda is amazing and I didn't get to use her as much as I wanted to in this chapter, but she'll be reappearing frequently because Romeo needs his grandma. :) Also Medda has a huge heart and I love her, so that's also why. I figured Medda would want all of the boys to keep in contact because she wants them to have a network, so that's why I had her do the monthly thing, kinda like what Grandma does, we normally have breakfast at her house that way the fam can keep in touch, so it's a nice little shout-out as well to my bomb-ass grandma (who will probably never read this but whatever).
> 
> And I might have revealed Snyder too early, but only time will tell. 
> 
> Also, Race calling Anne Marie is wife is meant as a platonic joke, based on a part of their relationship we haven't seen yet, in case that part was confusing.
> 
> I hope all y'all enjoyed and are having a blessed day! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, just let me know!  
> \-- PrincessChess


	5. Mondays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine and Jack both have a really bad day.

This Monday was the kind of the Monday where nothing could go right, the type of day where the world seems conspired against Katherine and she couldn’t quite get a leg up on beating it. It had started with her waking up late, the blaring sound of her alarm jutting her out of sleep nearly an hour after she was supposed to be awake, and the dreadful rollercoaster that was the morning hours of her Monday only continued on a downward slope from there. She had spilled coffee all over her peach colored blouse, which had forced her to change, and then traffic had just been _dreadful_ , making her even more late than usual.

So, needless, to say by times she landed onto the seventeenth floor of her office building, she was in a rather sour mood. The auburn-haired woman marched off the elevator with a scowl, her bag swung hastily over her shoulder and her phone charger hanging out of the side.

The receptionist for the floor – a young blonde woman named Arianna – gave Katherine a sympathetic smile as Katherine walked closer, and Katherine at least attempted to return it. Arianna hadn’t personally done anything to make Katherine’s morning a literal disaster, the slightly younger woman at least deserved at least passing politeness.

“Hey Kath,” Arianna said, brown eyes sparkling kindly. “Rough morning?”

“Understatement of the century,” Katherine mumbled, and Arianna laughed.

“Well lucky for you, one Bryan Denton isn’t in yet,” Arianna said. “So, you’re safe there.”

Katherine let out a sigh of relief. Bryan was not one to tolerate tardiness (despite Bryan’s rampant lateness), so Katherine had been dreading walking into her office to see Bryan waiting to scold her for being late. Katherine pulled her bag higher on her shoulder, stuffing the falling white chord into the faux leather item.

“So, how’d your date go this weekend?” Arianna asked. A bit of mischief twinkled in the blonde’s eyes. “Tell me everything.”

Katherine raised a brow. “I didn’t have a date this weekend.”

Arianna’s eyes clouded with confusion. “Well, then who was that guy who was hanging around? He’s been here a lot. Dark hair, a little short?”

Katherine caught herself before she could laugh at Arianna’s suggestion. Spot? Her boyfriend? Of all the ridiculous notions. She ignored the little flip in her stomach at the thought, because she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Oh, you mean Spot? Spot’s not my boyfriend,” Katherine said. Katherine was surprised by the unsure note at the end of her sentence, but she decided for now she was going to ignore that too. Arianna tilted her head to the side curiously. “What made you think Spot was my boyfriend?”

Arianna shrugged. “’M not sure. He’s just around a lot, I thought maybe he was your…. that you guys were…. never mind, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Katherine said, “it was an honest mistake, I probably would have thought the same thing. Spot’s just a really good friend.”

Though, Katherine supposed, really good friends didn’t get up to the things she and Spot did. Katherine held back the blush that threatened to spill at the reminder of the way she had in fact spent her weekend. It hadn’t been a date (because her and Spot were _not_ dating) but it wouldn’t lend credence to the idea that the two of them were simply just friends.

Arianna was quiet for a moment before a smirk spread across her face slowly, her eyes sparklingly teasingly in a way that Katherine knew all to well.

“So…he’s available?” Arianna teased.

_No._

Katherine blinked. Where had that come from? She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” Katherine asked. Katherine recalled a tall, thin man coming in and out a few weeks ago to never make it past Arianna’s desk. What had Arianna said his name was again? Henry?

“Me and him decided that we work better as friends,” Arianna said, waving off Katherine’s concern with a flick of her wrist. Katherine’s eyes fell on the clock across the wall and she felt panic shoot in her stomach as she realized how close it was to a quarter until ten. Even if Bryan had yet to arrive, she had better start on her own job before Bryan got here.

“I’ll be sure to put a good word into Spot for you,” Katherine said, even though she had no plans of ever doing that, “but I got to get to work, see ya later.”

Arianna smiled and darted her eyes over to her computer. “See you in a bit Katherine.”

Katherine quickly made her down the hall of offices, quickly finding the one for her. Technically it wasn’t just an office, it was just a slightly smaller room with a door in the corner that led to Denton’s office. But still, Katherine had made it into one – her desk in the corner had a desk calendar across it as well as phone. Little cups of pens were scattered across it (and maybe one or two were the cliché fake flower pens), as well as a dish of fun-sized candy, that while there to make her look more welcoming it was also partially there because sometimes a well-timed piece of candy could make her day. (Even if Arianna always stole the Milky Way bars.)

Katherine put her bag at her feet and slipped into her desk chair, pulling her laptop out of its bag. _The New York Times_ hadn’t thought it necessary to issue her a computer, trusting that her Millennial self would have one handy for herself to use. They had been right, but still, she would appreciate not having to lag her laptop everywhere.

As she waited for her computer to boot up, she scrolled through the list of names Bryan had sent her on Saturday. With them was a little bit of their contact information – an e-mail address or a phone number, but very rarely both. A personal investigator had found them for Bryan, and that fact made Katherine feel a little uneasy. Had this investigator been following these people for a while? How had he or she gotten this information?

Katherine shook her head and put down her phone once she heard the beginning automated wind chimes that signaled her laptop was signed on. The less she thought about how this information was found the better, she supposed.

Katherine pulled up her e-mail and began drafting the e-mail to send to the few listed addresses. Of the five names, only Maria Anderson and Jeremy White had e-mails for Katherine to send messages too. She figured for them it would be the best form of first contact – give them more time to think about their answer. The e-mail was short and sweet, once she double and triple checked before sending out. Spot had been gracious enough to help her draft it, carefully telling her things that people who lived under Warren Snyder would not want to hear, and Katherine hoped they replied.

Just as she hit send on her keyboard, the door to her office flung open to reveal a heavily disheveled form of Bryan Denton. Katherine raised a brow at the form of her hour and a half late boss (not that she was much better, sliding in a mere half hour before him), taking in his appearance. His shirt was half tucked in, hair wind-swept over to his right side, eyes bright but wild. His tie also had a mysterious stain that Katherine was a little concerned to ask about.

“Rough morning Bryan?” Katherine asked, giving him a quick once over. Bryan looked down at himself, eyes widening in surprise, as if realizing he was in fact having his current appearance.

“Oh, uh, yes.” Bryan smiled. “I guess you could say it was a bit of a rough morning Katherine, in case you couldn’t tell.”

“Oh, believe me sir, I can tell,” Katherine said softly. If Bryan heard her, he didn’t say anything, instead just made his way toward his office door.

“Have you contacted the people for the article yet?” Bryan said. Katherine looked between Bryan and her computer quickly, pressing her lips into a thin line.

“I’m in the process of doing so,” Katherine said. Bryan nodded and then disappeared into his office without another word, shutting the door behind with a gentle thud. Katherine fought the urge to roll her eyes. Her boss, once again, ever eccentric.

Katherine turned back to her desk, pulling up the list of names again to find their phone numbers. A deep pit of nerves settled in her. Making these phone calls were going to be no fun, she could already tell.

^ **^** ^

“Come on Jim it’s _one_ Saturday night!” Jack pleaded. Jim didn’t even look up from the stack of papers he was reading, eyes glazed over and bored.

“Answer’s no Kelly,” Jim said. Jack made an annoyed sound and crossed his arms. He stood firmly in the doorway of the back office of the bar, where he had been for the past few minutes as tried in vain to get his shift changed from Saturday night to Saturday day for the second day in a row. Jacobi, when playing the schedule for this week, had remembered that it was Halloween and tried to get the staff with family off that night, something Jack was ever thankful for. But that also left his only obstacle for a Halloween with Romeo the one and only Jim Delancey – who was a complete and total ass about schedules.

“But it’s Halloween Jim!” Jack said. “Romeo’s so excited, it’s all he talked about all week-end.”

That was true. From the second things had calmed down at Medda’s and Jack went to check on Romeo, the little boy had talked Jack’s ear off non-stop about how much fun they were going to have on Halloween. And Jack, not wanting to crack Romeo’s precious smile, hadn’t said anything about possibly needing to work. Now he kind of wished he had.

“Halloween is one of our busiest nights Jack,” Jim said, finally looking up from the papers. “And though it hurts me to add to your ego, your one of the best bartenders I’ve got, I need you that night. So, the answer is no. End of discussion.”

Jack frowned. “But –”  

“End of _discussion,”_ Jim said. Jim’s tone had a stark note of finality to it. Jack was never going to be able to convince to Jim to let him off for Halloween. Jack felt guilt rise in him. Wh-what was he going to tell Romeo?

Jim leaned back in his chair menacingly.

“You got off shift fifteen minutes ago, you better not be running up your clock with this discussion.”

No, Jack had most certainly clocked out before coming to talk to Jim. He had hoped maybe it would swing Jim in his favor, trying to convince Jim that Jack was a good employee that didn’t find reasons to run up his work hours. (Even if that was something Jack did – he did, after all, have a growing kid to feed.)

“No, I—I’m not on the clock,” Jack said. Jack was surprised at the waver in his tone and he felt the sting of tears at the side of his eyes. Jack felt a determined clench to his stomach, and he tightened his hands into fists. No. He was not going to cry over this in front of _Jim Delancey._

“Good,” Jim said with a nod. His gaze returned to his papers. “Now get out.”

Jack, for once, did as Jim said without complaint. He turned on his heel and rushed out of Jim’s office and through the kitchen, giving the workers a quick nod but hurrying through before any of them could ask about Jack’s apparent refusal to look them in the eye or the red tinge at the edge of his own eyes. The only thing Jack dared to look at directly was the clock above the back door, which declared it just past two, an hour before Jack had to pick up Romeo from school. It took thirty minutes to get there by foot from here.

Perfect timing for a good cry, Jack supposed.

Jack barely made out the back door before the tears fell. The door slammed behind him loudly, but Jack didn’t care. Jack sunk to the ground, back level against the red brick wall as his chest began heaving up and down with sobs. He knew it was stupid to cry over this – he had known from the second Halloween had entered his head it was a possibility, a very high possibility, that he was going to have to miss the holiday. He could cry and be upset all he wanted but nothing was going to change that.

And yet, the tears came anyway. He wasn’t sure really if they were sad tears or angry tears, all Jack knew was that they couldn’t stop. The stung as they collected in his eyes, stubbornly trying to keep them in before they fell against his wishes.

Once again, he was going to disappoint Romeo. It seemed that was all he ever did. Leave Romeo in the dark as Jack did nothing but work and work and work. Romeo had been so excited for Halloween, and honestly, Jack had been too. It was Romeo’s first real Halloween, one where he got to spend the night participating instead of hoping and pleading that he could.

Maybe that had been a selfish decision on Jack’s part. Making Romeo wait so long to go trick-or-treating. At the time, it had seemed like the right thing to do. New York was dangerous, especially for little kids, Jack had wanted to know Romeo was old enough to handle it. He shouldn’t have waited so long. He should have let Romeo do it, he should have remembered the date, he should have thought to request time off –

He should have done a lot. If he had done those things, maybe he wouldn’t be crying in an ally right now.

“ _Maybe I wouldn’t be such a bad father,”_ Jack thought, wiping at his eyes. Jack knew he was miles off from target father material, he missed so much of Romeo’s life and could barely take care of him half the time. All he did was leave Romeo with someone else and try his hardest to get Romeo some semblance of a normal life, something Jack knew deep down he could never give to Romeo.

Maybe that was why he was really upset. Jack wasn’t sure.

Through his tears, Jack became aware that his phone was ringing. It was a loud catchy song declaring a love for rubber ducks, a ringtone that Romeo had picked for Jack. It wasn’t the most professional of ringtones, but it made Romeo smile whenever he heard it, so Jack couldn’t find it in him to change it.

Jack sniffled once and looked down at his cracked screen, finding an unknown number staring back up at him. Jack’s thumb hovered over the reject call button for half a second. He didn’t take calls from unknown phone numbers – he had other, more important things to do than deal with telemarketers and wrong numbers. Just about the only time he accepted them was when he was waiting to hear back on a job, but he hadn’t put in any new applications in six months.

And yet, he hesitated. He wasn’t sure why he did, but today his hand hovered over reject instead of instinctively pressing the red button. He felt an unfamiliar feeling in his stomach, a tight pull in his stomach that caused him to stop. Maybe it was because he was already upset, Jack wasn’t sure.

Jack wasn’t sure why, but he did anyway. His thumb inched over to the green accept button as his tears began to dry. Something in him _almost_ wanted to answer the phone.

So, on a whim, Jack pushed the green button and put it to his ear.

“Hello?” Jack said, pushing down the sorrowful hiccup in his throat.

“ _Whoa, you actually picked up,”_ a female voice said, sounding surprised on the other side of the phone. “ _No-no one else picked up.”_

Jack furrowed his brow. Who was this?

“Congratulations,” Jack said, an annoyed bite to his voice. “You got a name? Or a point?” Just because he picked up doesn’t mean he liked getting phone calls from strangers.

“ _Oh, uh, yes,”_ the girl said, “ _my name’s Katherine Plumber with_ The New York Times _–”_

“Not interested,” Jack said. And just like that, his instinct was back. If he had known that this was the unknown phone call, he never would have picked up.

The girl – Katherine – made a strangled sound. “ _But you don’t even know what I was going to say!”_

Jack scoffed and shifted against the brick wall. “We both know Spot came to talk to me, so don’t say I don’t know what you were going to say.”

“ _Well, I –”_

“You were going to ask if I wanted to talk about what happened to me when I was younger,” Jack said. “And no, Ms. Plumber, I’m not interested.”

“ _But –”_

“No.” Jack felt an irrational anger grow in him. He knew it was irrational, that he was angry at something and someone else, not at this girl just trying to do her job. He shouldn’t get mad, but he did anyway. “I don’t want to talk about it, and I wouldn’t hold your breath getting anyone to say yes. I don’t care what Spot told you or how open he was about it, don’t count on anyone else doing that. What happened to us is none of your damn business. I recommend you get your nose out of where it doesn’t belong. You have no idea what happened to us – so don’t expect us to be okay with you talking about it or trying to get us to.”

And with that, he hung up. He didn’t regret what he said.

He wondered if that made him a bad person on top of a bad father. Maybe there wasn’t a difference.

^ **^** ^

Jack stood at the edge of the school’s fence, watching the students currently milling around the school playground for any sign of Romeo. Today was the rare kind of day where Jack actually got to pick up Romeo from school, and normally Jack would be ecstatic at getting to greet Romeo first thing after school, but today Jack felt a bittersweet feeling about the whole thing. Yes, he would get to greet Romeo at the school gates, but it also meant he had to face Romeo with the knowledge that their Halloween plans were out of the question now.

Jack wasn’t quite ready to face that yet, because once he saw Romeo’s frown, he knew his heart would just break all over again, but at the same time Jack also knew he had to get it over with. Like ripping off a band-aid, quick and fast to get the pain over with.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw two younger forms walk with their backs to Jack. Jack didn’t have to turn to see who they were, Jack could tell who they were from only a glance. They were Oscar and Morris, Jim’s sons, both of whom were the reigning bullies of the third and fifth grade. Romeo had told Jack and Charlie all about it, but aside from the testimony of some of the kids, there was really no proof that Oscar and Morris were doing anything wrong. That meant the duo had basically gotten a slap on the wrist, enough to save face but not actually punish them. Although Charlie now kept a watch on them, well, the best he could from several grades away.

That fact made Jack angry in a way that he couldn’t describe. He hated that he had to call the school bullies dad his boss, he hated that the two were doing anything to the kids at school at all. Just about the only silver lining Jack could find in the whole thing was that the duo hadn’t targeted Romeo, which pleased a selfish part of Jack that only cared about Romeo being okay over the other kids. Jack tried to ignore that thought as best he could.

Jack’s thoughts were pulled away from his anger when he heard a voice call out to him.

“ _Daddy!”_

Romeo was sprinting out of the fenced in area and towards Jack, his backpack threatening to slip off his shoulders. Romeo’s smile was a mile wide. It seemed that Romeo was excited that Jack was picking him up from school as well.

Romeo barreled into Jack’s legs, hugging them tightly with all his might, which wasn’t actually all that much.

“Daddy!” Romeo repeated, staring up at Jack happily. Jack’s stomach flipped and flopped nervously, fully aware in just a bit he was going to have to shatter that happiness. Jack smiled the best he could, hoping Romeo couldn’t tell part of it was forced, and tussled Romeo’s hair.

“Hey tater-tot,” Jack said. His voice was softer than he would have liked. He cleared his throat and spoke louder. “How was school today?”

“School was _great!_ ” Romeo said, letting go of Jack to clap his hands together. “Uncle Charlie taught us all about Johnny Appleseed and then he taught us about the moon and lots of other really cool stuff!”

Jack looked up from Romeo now to look for Charlie in the crowd, to signal him that he had Romeo and that the young boy hadn’t gone missing.

“Really? That’s great,” Jack said. “And I’d love to hear about it, but just give me one second to make sure Uncle Charlie knows we’re gone, okay?”

Romeo nodded and rocked back and forth on his feet. Jack eventually spotted his blond brother over by the swings, where he was keeping a careful on a group of kindergartners playing with chalk. Charlie looked up at just the right time to meet Jack’s gaze and Jack made a waving motion. Charlie smiled and gave a thumbs up that the two were seen, but then returned to the kids.

“Okay,” Jack said, taking Romeo’s hand, “now you can tell me all about what Uncle Charlie taught you guys.”

Romeo smiled again, practically skipping next to Jack as they made their way home. Romeo told Jack all about how Uncle Charlie had read them a story book about Johnny Appleseed and how Uncle Charlie had explained that the moon doesn’t disappear when the sun comes up that it actually the Earth pinning (although Romeo admitted that he was still a little confused because _how can the Earth spin?_ ). Romeo also talked about a really fun game of hide and seek he had played with Mike and Ike and how Smalls had to go to the nurse’s office she was sneezing a lot. Romeo also made sure to include that he ate his peaches and green beans, not wanting to leave Jack in doubt about if Romeo was holding up his end of the deal for trick-or-treating.

“…. the green beans were really gross!” Romeo said, nose twisted in remembered disgust. “But I made sure to eat them all, that way we can go trick-or-treating on Halloween!”

Jack fiddled with the keys to their apartment building nervously. It seemed it was go-time, whether he liked it or not.

“Actually, tater-tot, about Halloween –” Jack said, opening the door to the building. Romeo walked in, cutting Jack off with the kind of confidence only little kids had.

“Uncle Charlie even talked about Halloween in school today!” Romeo said. Romeo bounded up the stairs, and Jack scrambled to follow him. “Talked about how candy can lead to something called cavities, but I’m not sure I believe him.”

They arrived at the door, and Romeo waited patiently for Jack to open the door, still prattling on about cavities.

“He says that they’re holes in your teeth!” Romeo said, unbelieving. Jack opened the door and ushered them in quickly as possible. “How can you have holes in your teeth Daddy?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said, even though he did. Romeo put his bag down by the counter chairs, and Jack gulped once, trying to build up his nerves.

It was just one thing he had to tell Romeo, it wasn’t the end of the world. What was he afraid of? (He was afraid of disappointing Romeo, that’s what.)

“Romeo, I, uh, I have something to tell you about Halloween,” Jack said. Romeo turned back around to Jack, head tilted curiously. His eyes were wide, full of curiosity and wonder, and Jack’s resolve almost broke right there. Jack cleared his throat.

“I – I can’t – I can’t go trick-or-treating with you,” Jack said. The reaction was instantaneous. Romeo’s wide, curious eyes deflated to sad and confused, smile disappearing behind his thin frown.

“What?” Romeo said softly. Jack swallowed thickly and kneeled down to Romeo’s height, looking Romeo directly in the eyes no matter how much he wanted to turn away from them. “Bu-but you _promised._ ”

“I know I did,” Jack said. It was a tougher battle than he imagined keeping his voice calm. “But I have to work that night, Mr. Delancey says so.” Romeo’s frown turned from confused and sad to angry, brows furrowing together.

“But you _promised_!” Romeo said. “You promised we could go trick-or-treating together this year! You promised!”

To Romeo, a promise was a sacred thing. Once it was made, there was no backing out. It was a done deal; no exceptions were to be made. Jack knew breaking a promise to Romeo was like punching someone in the gut – painful and once done, unfixable.

“I know I promised,” Jack said. “But if I don’t go to work on Halloween, Mr. Delancey won’t let me go to work ever again.” Jim hadn’t ever technically said that, but Jack knew Jim. That was exactly what he would do.

“You promised,” Romeo said, voice soft and quiet, but still undeniably angry. Jack sighed and reached to cup Romeo’s face gently, but Romeo jerked away from him.  Romeo turned away and ran to his room, slamming the door behind with a powerful slam that resounded like thunder in Jack’s heart.

Jack wondered if he should have been less blunt about why he couldn’t go. Made up some reason that Romeo couldn’t get mad at it, but Jack dismissed that idea. It would do no good to lie to Romeo. Romeo, though little, was still a person – Jack’s favorite person in the whole world – and he of all people didn’t deserve to be lied to. Jack wouldn’t – he couldn’t lie to Romeo, not about this.

Jack wondered if that was another mistake he was making.

^ **^** ^

Spot Conlon wasn’t sure when he fell in love with Katherine. Maybe it was before they started their strange arrangement, maybe it was after, Spot wasn’t quite sure. All he knew was that he woke up one morning with Katherine curled against him and he had just _known._ He not only loved her, he was _in_ love with her. He was in love with every part of her; the determined part of her that would spend all night typing on her laptop, the reckless part of her that did crazy things, the humorous side of her that wasn’t afraid to tease him.

All of it, all of her, he was utterly in love with.

He supposed the smart thing to do once he figured it out was to stop what this was, they were doing. Go back to just being her friend, not _this._ The one that gave him just the tiniest hope maybe she could love him back. To be fair to Katherine, she _wasn’t_ leading him on. She was quite clear that to her this was _just_ about sex, that other than that they were just normal friends.

And Spot could respect that. Katherine wasn’t giving him promises of maybe something more, when they started this whole thing, they had agreed that one of them could opt out at any time, no questions asked. Spot should have done that when he figured out his true feelings for Katherine. Because now he was in too deep, too far in love with her to turn back now.

Katherine could say a single word and Spot would drop everything to listen. Katherine had him wrapped completely around her finger, and she didn’t even know it. So, when Spot saw on his phone that Katherine had texted him to come over, Spot hadn’t hesitated to head straight there after his shift ended.

By time he arrived at her apartment, it was nearing ten-thirty, and Spot wasn’t surprised to see Katherine still awake. She was at the kitchen table, a bowl of ice cream in front of her that she was stating at very intently and stabbing with a spoon. Her hair was pulled up into a very messy bun on top of her hair and she wore just about the rattiest old pair of sweatpants she could have possibly found, but yet her make-up for the day was still on, which told Spot that she hadn’t gotten ready for bed quite yet. While it was common for Katherine to not be in bed at this time, it was not common for Katherine to be ready for it by this time.

Spot raised a brow and slipped next to her at the table.

“Got your text, what’s wrong?” Spot said. Katherine grunted and leaned back in her chair, not looking up from her ice cream.

“Nothing,” Katherine said. Spot rolled his eyes.

“Yes, Kitty, because people who have _nothing_ wrong, always text their best friend to come over late at night and then stab perfectly good ice cream while they wait for said best friend to show up.” Katherine made another grunting sound. Spot sighed deeply and reached to take the bowl of ice cream and spoon from her.

“Well, if you’re just going to waste this ice cream, I’ll just eat it until you tell me what’s wrong.” Spot took one bite of it and immediately regretted it. “ _Bleh._ Strawberry cheesecake, seriously? If you want cheesecake, go buy one Kitty, don’t subject yourself to this disaster of an ice cream.”

This got a ghost of a smile out of her.

“I like it,” she said. Spot narrowed his eyes at her.

“Of course, you do, _you heathen.”_

Katherine laughed under her breath and Spot’s eyes glinted victoriously. At least he had gotten her talking to him.

“Now, do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Spot asked, somber. “Disgusting as it, you only break out this excuse for ice cream when you’ve had a bad day.”

Katherine fiddled with the drawstring of her pants, and Spot realized who they belonged too. Another mark that something was wrong was that she was wearing _his_ clothes.

“It sounds stupid,” Katherine said. “It was just a bad day, I sent that text when I was really upset, okay? I’m fine now though.”

Spot scoffed. “Kitty, you want to try that again if someone who doesn’t know you’re lying.”

Katherine cringed. “That obvious.”

“You’re a _really_ bad liar.” Katherine reached for the ring around her neck, smiling softly as she played with it between her pointer finger and thumb.

“He used to say the same thing,” Katherine said. Spot reached for her other hand. Spot didn’t have to ask who _he_ was, they both knew. Pretty much all of upper crust New York knew for that matter.

“Would you have told him what’s wrong?” Spot said. Katherine nodded. “Then you can tell me.”

Spot knew it wasn’t right to compare himself to _him._ Spot wasn’t the same thing to Katherine as _he_ had been, but right now, Spot was all Katherine had for this. And Spot was going to be there for Katherine, come hell or high water. Katherine heaved once but started talking.

“It started off as just a bad day, you know – wake up late, spill coffee, that kind of thing, you know?” Spot nodded but didn’t say anything. You didn’t cut off a Katherine story for anything. “But then I started setting up appointments for the – for the article.” Spot’s heart clenched but he didn’t say anything. “Three of them went straight to voicemail. One called me back, and she – it was Hannah, but she made me call her Buttons – was really open to the idea, but she never got around to scheduling. And then – and then Jack Kelly picked up the phone.”

Spot tensed. Loyalties already began pounding at him. Obviously, Jack had done something to upset Katherine, but at the same time Jack was his brother. Spot could already feel the conflict in him take hold.

Katherine cringed, apparently the conflict showed.

“Look, I know Jack is your brother, so I want to give him the benefit of the doubt – but – but, he was just _mean_ ,” Katherine said. “You told me he’s been through a lot, and I believe you, but he also was a grade A jerk today on the phone.”

Spot sighed, pushing down his urge to defend Jack. He could do that in a moment, after she finished with her story.

“What exactly did he say?” Spot asked slowly.

“He told me he wasn’t interested,” Katherine said, “which I can respect. If he wanted to say no, fine, I get it. But he launched into this tirade about how I was never going to get anyone to talk to us and how I needed to put my nose back where it belongs and that I basically needed to scrape the article.”

“Well, what do you say to him?” Spot said.

“’My name is Katherine Plumber’,” Katherine said. “Basically, everything else was cut off by him and he hung up before I could get in another word edgewise.”

Spot hesitated for a moment on what to say. On one hand, Katherine hadn’t done anything it seemed to provoke Jack into going on his spiel and making her upset. But on the other, Spot knew Jack and knew it was a touchy subject, what happened in Snyder’s care. He also knew better than to keep Katherine from calling, because Jack at least deserved to say no, not have the option robbed from. He has already had so much taken from him.

“I’m not saying he was right, what he did,” Spot said cautiously. “But Jack has been through a lot. You may have just caught him at a bad moment.”

Katherine’s lips formed a thin frown. “Having a bad life doesn’t excuse being a pain to a stranger.”

Spot nodded. “You’re right. But it does explain it. You have every right to be upset, because I love Jack but when he gets mad, he gets _mad._ Goes straight for the jugular. So be upset. But at least try to understand the context of where that anger comes from. You don’t have to like him or excuse what he did but try to understand where it comes from. You were going to ask about…about some really heavy stuff of him, stuff he doesn’t like to talk about.”

“I guess you’re right,” Katherine said after a moment of reluctance. Spot smiled.

“Kitty, I’m always right.” Katherine rolled her eyes and reached for her ice cream back, which Spot returned easily. Despite his smile and easy laugh, Spot was making his mind up.

Tomorrow he was going to have to visit Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...Spot's a POV character. Surprise? Not just Jack and Katherine, instead we get his snark too. 
> 
> What did you guys think? I know it's late, it's just mid-terms hit yer girl like a truck and had to make sure I didn't flunk my Mass Communication exam (which I didn't!). Plus I had some other stuff that kinda determined my whole path in life, so that was fun, on top of a mental breakdown, sickness, and Mock Trial competition. But yer girl is thriving now and is back with some more Romeo Kelly AU stuff. 
> 
> Any guesses on who 'he' is? I almost put his name in, but I took it out because I thought it would make his connection to Kath too clear, and I wanted to keep it on the DL for now. But any guesses on who he might be?
> 
> And what do y'all think of Arianna? She's fun to write, so I was kinda curious how she is to unbiased readers who didn't create her. 
> 
> And Buttons is a girl in this fic. That's the way it is, I don't make the rules.
> 
> Any questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know in the comments down below! Y'all have a blessed day!  
> \--PrincessChess


	6. Songs and Surprise Visitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Romeo have a breakthrough, and Jack has some unexpected visitors: one at work, and one on the street.

Jack watched Romeo warily from across the kitchen as the little boy twirled his spoon around his cereal bowl, the flakes inside getting more and more pasty as they sat longer in milk. Romeo was still angry from the night before – no, maybe angry wasn’t the right word. Romeo’s anger had quickly faded last night to a quiet aloofness, only retreating out of his room for dinner and to let Jack help him get ready for bed, all with a stubborn frown and no verbal response. Even when Jack went to tuck Romeo in last night, all Jack had gotten in response was a begrudging ‘good night’ he had grumbled into the pillow. This morning didn’t seem to fair much better, as Romeo hadn’t so much as said good morning since Jack had woken him up to get ready for school.

Jack knew Romeo was hurt and upset about Halloween, and Jack didn’t blame him for that. It was just that Romeo was usually loud and animated about how he felt. This Romeo, the one that shut down, was murky territory that Jack hadn’t quite mastered how to navigate. It was different every time Romeo got like this, only after something big happened, because it wasn’t like Romeo to hold onto negative emotions for long unless it was huge. The last time this happened was when Jack didn’t let Romeo go to Les’s birthday party two months ago after Romeo had written on the walls (despite Jack’s repeated warnings that would be the consequence) and it had taken him half a day to coax Romeo out of his head enough to talk to Jack.

But this was more than a birthday party, this was a promise Jack had made and was being forced to break. Jack wasn’t sure how he could get Romeo to talk to him, because getting Romeo to talk about how he was feeling Jack knew would be the best first step. But how?

Jack took a shaky breath and thought over his options. Trying to talk to Romeo straight off hadn’t ended well when he attempted it, and Jack really didn’t want to send Romeo off to school while Romeo was upset like this. It would only make it worse, letting Romeo keep his heartbreak over this bottled up for a whole school day, or worse, having Romeo have it all explode in front of his entire class. Jack snuck a quick glance out the window where the sun was ascending into the sky, and he sucked in a breath.

He had one idea, but he didn’t know how well it would go over. But it usually made Romeo feel better, so it was worth a shot. Jack walked towards the counter, setting down the room temperature cup of water he had been half-heartedly drinking for the past little bit. Romeo didn’t even look up.

“ _Close your eyes,_

_Come with me_

_Where it’s clean and green and pretty_

_And they went and made a city out of clay!_

_Why the minute that you get there,_

_Folks’ll walk right up and say_

‘ _Welcome home, welcome home to Santa Fe!’”_

 

Romeo blinked warily and looked up at Jack now, mouth popping open in quiet surprise. Then Romeo’s eyebrows furrowed, as if he wasn’t quite sure how to react. Jack normally waited for Romeo to suggest the song, Jack very rarely sang it unprompted now that Romeo was older. Romeo’s lips twitched at a smile, as it always did at the song because it was _their_ song, but he didn’t budge all the way.

“ _Planting crops,_

_Splitting rails,_

_“Swapping tales around the fire,_

_Except for Sunday when you lie around all day!_

_Soon your friends are more like family,_

_And they’re begging you to stay!_

_Ain’t that neat?_

_Living sweet,_

_In Santa Fe,”_

 

Romeo’s fight not to smile appeared to be losing, but still, all the same, Romeo didn’t say anything back. Jack held back a sigh and tried to not to let his disappointment show at this failed attempt. Jack picked up his cup, suddenly not very interested in finishing it, and turned to put it in the sink, when suddenly he heard Romeo speak softly.

“Can…can you finish the rest?” Romeo said. Jack turned on his heel, almost not believing that Romeo had spoken at all. Romeo looked down at his bowl of cereal again, spinning the spoon round and round. “The so-song? It—it was – I really –” Romeo looked up again, sheepish. “I really liked it.”

Jack nodded quickly and walked back towards Romeo, rounding the corner of the counter to sit next to him.

“Of course,” Jack said, settling into the chair.

“ _Santa Fe, you can bet,_

_We won’t let no one beat us!_

_We won’t beg no one to treat us fair and square_

_We’ll do our share,_

_Work the land,_

_Chase the sun,_

_Swim the whole Rio Grande just for fun!”_

 

Romeo’s smile slowly grew, and he dropped his spoon.  He looked up at Jack now instead of his now soggy breakfast. He seemed to be less upset than he was a moment ago, the sharp edge taken off of his attitude and leaving only the blunt part in its place.

“Are you ready to talk now tater-tot?” Jack asked nervously. Romeo hesitated for a moment and then shook his head no. Jack’s frown deepened. “Tater-tot, it’s not good to hold in what you’re feeling like this. I know you’re upset, and it’s okay that you are, but you have to talk about it too, so you don’t feel that way anymore.”

Romeo bit his lip, reluctant for just long enough that Jack thought that Romeo wasn’t going to talk. Then Romeo sighed into his bowl and fiddled with his thumb, voice very soft as he spoke.

“You promised you’d go with me,” Romeo whispered. Jack nodded.

“That’s true. Last year I promised we’d go.”

“But you-you can’t go.”

“That’s also true. I can’t go with you.”

Jack didn’t bother trying to add some kind of flowery explanation or even one at all. Romeo didn’t that right now. What Romeo needed was just for Jack to listen.

Romeo’s face screwed up into a frown.

“But you always said that _never_ to break a promise,” Romeo said. Jack sighed and took both of Romeo’s hands gently in his own, looking down into Romeo’s eyes sincerely.

“I did say that,” Jack said. “But sometimes people have to break promises, because of things they can’t control. I can’t control how Mister Delancey makes his schedule, which means I have to work and can’t go trick-or-treating with you. You shouldn’t ever break a promise unless you absolutely have to.”

Romeo bit his lip, still confused. Jack sighed and decided to switch tactics, giving Romeo’s hands a gentle squeeze of encouragement.

“Let me explain in a way you’ll understand,” Jack said. “Remember that time Uncle Race said he wasn’t going to talk for a whole day?” Romeo’s eyes lit up at the memory, just like Jack expected. They all remembered the extremely strange day three months ago where Race had been given by bet by Specs that he couldn’t go a whole day without talking. And Race, being a borderline compulsive gambler, had agreed. “He did everything he could to not talk – wrote on white boards, pointed at things, things like that. But then do you remember what happened at the end of the day?”

Romeo nodded. “He talked.”

“That’s right, he did. Do you remember why?”

Romeo’s face screwed up in puzzlement. “Because Uncle Davey got hurt?”

“That’s also right. Uncle Davey sprained his wrist, and Uncle Race had to talk to him to make sure he was okay. Uncle Race had to do what he said he wasn’t going to do, because he had something he had to do. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?” Romeo shifted from side to side, but then nodded up and down hesitantly. “Sometimes you have to do things if you don’t want to. Believe me tater-tot, more than anything in this world I want to go trick-or-treating with you. But I can’t go, even though I really want to.”

“Because you have to work?” The calm way Romeo said it tore at Jack’s heart.

“Yes, tater-tot, because I have to work,” Jack said. “But that doesn’t mean _you_ can’t go. You’re going to have lots of fun, I pr—I know it.” Romeo smiled now, a real toothy smile.

“Now come on, we’ve got to get _you_ off to school.”

^ **^** ^

Jack still felt unsure about the Romeo situation as his shift passed at Jacobi’s, and he fairly certain that this was showing through. The hours flew by in a daze, the quiet buzz of the mid-morning crowd becoming the boisterous rush of lunch and back to quiet with the early afternoon patrons, all of which was neatly tuned out as Jack worked. Though his body was here, it was obvious to everyone that Jack’s head was faraway.

Albert and Davey, fortunately, were not on shift to call him out on it, which was a God send. He needed this to do some mental math, as now that Romeo was at least at peace with that Jack couldn’t go with him, Jack now needed to figure out who _was._

Race and Davey were automatically dismissed as options before Jack even poured the first customer’s coffee. Well, technically, _Race w_ as, and Davey was tacked on to that by default. Race always took Halloween about seven steps too far and ended his night passed out with only vague memories to show for what he had done the night before. And given that this was their first Halloween since their announcement last June that they were a ‘thing’ now, Davey was probably going to be in charge of making sure one Racetrack Higgins doesn’t do something so stupid he ends up on the morning news.

Maybe Specs, Jack mused for a bit over trays of hash browns and sandwiches, because Specs was probably the most reliable after Davey. He would make sure Romeo was safe and not do something crazy dangerous. Then Jack remembered that Saturday Specs had said something about buying tickets to some Halloween-themed concert. That scratched Specs off the list too.

By time Jacobi made Jack go on his legally mandated break at one, Jack had pretty much ran through everyone he could think and come up with the only logical answer being Charlie, an answer Jack had been desperately trying to avoid. Charlie already had to watch after Romeo after school, in addition to teaching him _at_ school, and was pretty much Romeo’s de facto babysitter. Jack really didn’t want to ask him and Anne Marie to handle Halloween too.

But Jack really didn’t have a much better option. Albert Jack knew was on-shift Halloween night, so that took him out of the equation. Sarah would be great, but she was already acting as a chaperone for Les’s school dance. Elmer lived way across town in Queens, too far away for Elmer to get to Manhattan and back for Elmer’s weird job at a pawn store. Jack had even considered Spot dimly before scratching Spot off because it was Halloween, Spot was probably working that night. The police always increased presence on Halloween. Possibly Medda, but she was probably trying to figure out some kind of way to ease Halloween for Finch or just make sure he was okay that night. Jack didn’t want Romeo to get into the middle of that.

A sinking feeling settled in Jack as he finally accepted that it would have to be Charlie. Charlie already went above and beyond as Romeo’s godfather, but Jack never wanted to ask too much of Charlie. His brother had his own life to live – a job, a wife, a future. Jack knew Charlie, and Anne Marie for that matter, loved Romeo, but Jack felt everyday like he was tittering closer and closer to the line where Charlie would get sick of Jack’s disorganized shuffling of Romeo to make sure he was safe.

He really hoped Halloween night wasn’t it.

The slow diner was mostly cleared out. Only one table besides the one Jack was at was occupied, and it was by a law student who was eating a salad as he read over books. The waitress not on break, an actually really nice brunette named Kara, was by the service station talking to the cook, a tall boy named Ben. It was pretty quiet, which only gave Jack more headspace to muddle over this and only made his growing dread worse.

Jack ate his food slowly, the food not looking very appetizing, but he knew to eat it. He got paid Friday and was planning to go grocery shopping Saturday morning. They had enough to get by on, barely, if Jack played the cards right. His lunch passed at a tedious rate, and his interest in the clock increased every second. Five minutes passed at an agonizing slow pace and Jack desperately tried to will the clock to move faster. Getting back to work won’t sway his thoughts to something else but at least he would be doing something productive rather than just sitting here to stew in them. Just as the six-minute mark hit and Jack started contemplating if Jacobi would be upset if he clocked back in early, someone slipped into the booth seat across from him.

Jack did a double take as he took in the person’s dark hair and red flannel shirt. Spot? What the heck was Spot doing here?

“Spot?”

“Are you on break?” Spot asked in lieu of greeting. Jack blinked.

“Uh…yes?”

“Okay, good,” Spot said, shifting in the booth. “I didn’t want to bother you if you were working.”

Jack just stared at Spot, not quite sure what to say. Spot seemed on a mission here, and something about that determined aura Spot gave off was making Jack keep his mouth shut.

“Now, before I start yelling at you –” Spot started. Jack raised a brow.

“You’re going to yell at me?”

“I was going to wait a moment but unless you want me to start _now_ –”

“No, go ahead, sorry for interrupting.”

“As I was saying,” Spot said, leaning forward onto the table top, “how’s Romeo doing?”

“He’s doing okay, I guess,” Jack said, more unsure than he preferred. “He was upset ‘cause I can’t go trick-or-treating with him like I said I was. But he seemed fine when I dropped him off at school this morning.”

“That’s rough,” Spot said. “Romeo must have really been looking forward to it too.”

“Yeah, he was,” Jack said softly, poking a fork at his sandwich to keep from thinking too hard on it.

“You were to, weren’t you?” Spot said. Jack lips hinted at a smile of their own accord. He had indeed looking forward to spending time with Romeo. Quality time with him was too far and between than Jack liked, so yeah, Jack had been looking forward to it. Getting to see Romeo all excited about something, for once not having to worry about how much it costs or if Romeo would like it. Yeah, Jack had been excited.

“A little,” Jack said.

“Why can’t you go?” Spot asked. Jack chuckled under his breath.

“I have an appointment with the mayor of New York,” Jack replied. Spot rolled his eyes. “I have to work Spot.”

“Okay, you’re right, that was a stupid question,” Spot conceded. “I’d take him, but my shift –”

“I get it Spot, really. Work what’s got me in this mess to begin with.”

It was quiet again for a moment. Spot’s brow furrowed and his stare intensified, and Jack was pretty sure the yelling part of the conversation was about to begin. Jack ran quickly through what he might have done to piss Spot off, but for once came back empty.

“Now, I want to know why you went off on that girl from _The Times_ yesterday,” Spot said. Jack nearly choked on air. What? Spot was going to get on his case about that? Jack had all but forgotten than had happened yesterday. Why was Spot of all people coming to give him grief about it? Spot had said that him and the girl – what was her name? Kaitlin? – were friends, but Jack hadn’t thought they were close enough that Spot would come give Jack grief about what he had said to her? Well, they were close enough that Spot talked about Snyder, so really, Jack supposed it made sense.

“Really? That?” Jack said. “I didn’t say anything I didn’t think was true.” That wasn’t a lie. Jack seriously doubted anyone, but Spot, was going to open up to this girl about what happened. If Saturday was any indication, they would barely talk about it amongst each other, let alone a stranger.

“Well, you could have been a hell of lot nicer about it,” Spot said. Jack noticed that Spot didn’t try to say Jack _wasn’t_ right.

“Look, yesterday was a bad day, okay?” Jack said. “Kaitilan or Kathy or whatever her name is –”

“ _Katherine.”_

“Katherine, yeah, whatever, just got me a really bad time.”

“That doesn’t explain why you were an asshole Jack,” Spot said. “Katherine told me what you said. She’s just doing her job Jack. She’s not out to get you or something.”

Spot just didn’t get it Jack decided in that moment, what that article represented. Snyder, against all odds, was still out there, shuffling kids in and out of his foster home of terror. Snyder had connections, lots of them, and he could pull any strings necessary to get what he wants. If Jack said something, with one phone call Romeo could become the next one brought in. And that – that couldn’t happen. Jack just – Jack just couldn’t.

“He’s still alive,” Jack said slowly. Spot nodded calmly.

“I know.”

“You _knew_?” Jack said. “All of us have been parading around for years thinking he was gone, and you knew the whole time he was alive? Why didn’t you tell us?”

Spot sighed and avoided Jack’s eyes. “I searched him when I first joined the force, just to see. And sure enough, he was still alive and in business. I was almost sick when I found out, thinking he must be too old to still be alive was something I had held onto for so long. I knew all of you felt the same. I couldn’t burst that bubble Jack. I just couldn’t.” Spot finally looked at Jack now. “How’d you find out?”

Jack’s lips thinned out. “Medda’s got a new kid. Little older than Les, name’s Finch. Just got of Snyder’s care.”

“I’ll have to go by Medda’s sometime,” Spot said. “Meet him.”

“You should. He’s a good kid.”

Tense silence prevailed them for a moment and Jack’s head swirled. Spot had known Snyder was alive, had known but hadn’t told any of them. Jack didn’t know what to say or how to feel about that. That niggling part of him that had been – and was still – afraid of Snyder had been quieted by the lie they had believed he was dead. Knowing he was alive would have changed everything, probably for the worse. But at the same time, hadn’t Jack and the others deserved to know.

Spot sighed, finally breaching the quiet.

“Look, Jack, I just came here to talk to you about what you said to Katherine,” Spot said slowly. “Because honestly everything you said to her was kind of out of line. She’s just trying to do her job, she wasn’t going to make you talk, and you went off on her.”

Jack scoffed. “Do you want me to call her up and apologize or something?”

Spot’s eyes narrowed. “Honestly? Yeah, that’s what I want you to do, but I know me telling you to do so won’t make you do it.”

“Then why’d you come down here then Spot?” Jack asked. Spot shrugged.

“Just to tell you to think about what you did,” Spot said. “I know you said you were just at a bad moment when she called, but that didn’t give you the right to blow up on her. All she did was say her name, which you couldn’t even remember by the way. At least consider that while what you said you make think is true, you shouldn’t have been so rude about it.”

Jack’s eyes caught the clock on the wall, and he was delighted to see that the conversation with Spot had eaten away at most of his break time, meaning he could return to work again. Which also meant, he could end this conversation early.

“Look, Spot, I hate to cut short this guilt trip –”

“I did not come to _guilt trip_ you.”

“Yes, you did,” Jack said, “but I have to get back to work. Romeo won’t feed himself.” Jack stood from the booth, but Spot reached for his wrist. Jack looked down at Spot in surprise, frozen in place by Spot’s wide eyes.

“Look, Jack, I really didn’t come here to make you feel bad. You’re my brother and I love you,” Spot said. “I just – I just –,” Spot sighed, “—I just want you to think about what you said yesterday, okay?”

Something about Spot’s pleading expression made Jack nod his head, even if he wasn’t sure what he was agreeing to.

“I will,” Jack said. Spot’s eyes shifted back to normal and he dropped Jack’s wrist.

“Thank you.”

^ **^** ^

“There is no way that’s true!” Anne Marie said, sitting on the couch in her and Charlie’s apartment. Romeo nodded in the seat next to her, smile toothy but tired. Jack looked at the clock on the wall of their apartment and saw that it was just past seven. Romeo’s school night bed time – 7:30 – was fast approaching. Jack would need to get them home soon.

“But _it_ is true!” Romeo said. “Horses can’t be _pink!_ ” Romeo pointed across the room, where Charlie was standing with Jack at the entry into their small living space. “Uncle Charlie said so himself today in school! Horses can’t be pink!”

Anne Marie hummed thoughtfully. “I have several horse dolls that would prove otherwise.”

Charlie laughed under his breath. “Annie, please stop trying to indoctrinate my student with incorrect facts.” 

Annie Marie stuck out her tongue and turned back to Romeo. “Want to see the dolls? I’m sure I have them around here somewhere.”

Romeo nodded enthusiastically before looking over at Jack, remembering that the two of them were supposed to be leaving soon.

“Go ahead tater-tot,” Jack said. If he didn’t let Romeo go, he was just going to hear about it for days anyways. And maybe Jack was trying extra hard to win back Romeo’s favor after the Halloween thing, who knows.

Romeo smiled and disappeared down the hall, leading Anne Marie like he knew where they were in the first place. Jack smiled at the exchange and Charlie merely laughed, drawing Jack’s attention. Jack watched Charlie closely, the bright gleam in his smile and the genuine curve to Charlie’s lips. But there something else there, in his eyes, almost like envy.

“Do you ever think about having kids with Anne Marie?” Jack blurted out before he could think. Charlie blinked and turned to Jack now, traces of his envy now gone. Jack wasn’t sure why he asked. It’s not like Charlie had ever talked about having children of his own before, so there wasn’t any kind of precedence he could blame the question on. But the look in Charlie’s eyes had given Jack a start. If Charlie had kids now it wouldn’t be the end of the world, he wouldn’t be sent into the tailspin that wasn’t Jack’s life of dead-end jobs and late bills. Charlie had a real job, with a future, and a wife that wouldn’t leave him high and dry when it got rough. Out of the two of them, Charlie was the one who actually had more traditional credentials to be a father.

Charlie didn’t answer for a moment, but then shrugged calmly, like the question wasn’t random or very personal.

 “Sometimes,” Charlie said. “We’re married, it’s come up a few times when – if ever – we’ll have our own kids. I’m just out of school and started teaching, and Annie’s not even out of school yet, and she’s a dance major, so getting pregnant sets back her degree. Annie wants to wait, let us get more settled first, make sure we don’t take on a kid before we’re ready.”

Jack nodded and pretended that he didn’t think the last thing Charlie said wasn’t bullshit. No one was ever ready for a kid, not really. Jack knew that first hand.

“But I’ve got my students,” Charlie said, brightening up. “And though it’s not the same thing, I have to make sure there okay and I get to teach them. For now, that’s enough.” Charlie smiled and shifted on his crutches. “And speaking of my students, when should I expect Romeo here for Halloween?”

Jack gaped. “But I didn’t ask you to –”

Charlie rolled his eyes. “Romeo said you had to work, and honestly, Jack, I would be offended if you didn’t leave Romeo in the hands of me, his highly capable godfather and favorite uncle.” Charlie’s eyes glinted mischievously. “Besides, who were you going to call? Race?”

Jack shook his head vigorously. “Oh, dear God _no.”_

Not on Halloween. Never on Halloween would Race be in charge of Romeo. Charlie smiled again and playfully bumped Jack’s arm with his fist.

“We’ll make sure he has lots of fun,” Charlie said. “This building always has kids doing trick-or-treating, so they’ll be people here. Or we could do your building. It doesn’t matter, just tell us what to do.”

Jack wondered how he had ever gotten such a great best friend/favorite brother.

“You know I love you, right?” Jack said. Charlie smiled slyly.

“Jack Kelly, I am a married man,” Charlie said, even though he knew what Jack meant. “But for the record? I love you too. And Romeo.”

Jack’s heart clenched, remembering the other brother who said he loved him today. Jack had been trying not to revisit the conversation from earlier. Jack wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do – apologize or what – so he was choosing to ignore all of it for now.

“Daddy look!” Romeo came running back into the room, a pastel pink plastic horse tucked under his arm. Anne Marie appeared soon after, hair swishing behind her. “Aunt Annie had a pink horse doll after all! She’s said its name was Pinkie Pie!”

“Wow, that’s super cool,” Jack said. Romeo held up the horse even higher so Jack could see.

“She said I could keep it as long as you said I can!” Romeo said. Charlie blinked for a moment and looked to Anne Marie in confusion but waved him off. Jack decided to politely ignore this exchange. Jack knew saying Romeo couldn’t keep it was a moot point. He would just find a way to sneak it back home at some point, better to do it now where Romeo wasn’t breaking a rule. There was no harm in letting him keep the toy anyway.

“You can keep it, just make sure you don’t lose it, okay?” Romeo smiled. “Now tater-tot, what do we tell Aunt Annie for letting you take her toy?” Romeo spun on his heel to face Anne Marie.

“Thank you, Aunt Annie!” Romeo said. Anne Marie leaned down to Romeo’s level with a soft grin, squeezing the hand not holding the toy.

“Well, you’re very welcome Romeo,” Anne Marie said. “Just take good care of her, okay?”

“Now come on, Romeo,” Jack said, “it’s about time we headed home. You have school tomorrow and I don’t think Uncle Charlie would appreciate a Romeo that’s too tired to pay attention.”

Charlie scoffed, but Romeo nodded and took off back down the hall again.

“So,” Anne Marie drawled out, rising back to full height, “when is Romeo coming over for Halloween?”

Jack raised a surprised eyebrow. “Did you assume he was coming here to?”

“Are you serious?” Anne Marie asked. “Who else were you going to consider?”

Jack turned to Charlie, feigning annoyance. “You and your wife think too much alike.”

Charlie laughed. Romeo appeared again, backpack on his shoulders and Pinkie Pie securely tucked under one arm.

“Ready to go tater-tot?” Jack asked and Romeo nodded.

“Thank you for watching me this afternoon,” Romeo said, unprompted, which made Jack just a little bit proud. Charlie smiled.

“Of course,” Charlie said. “I’m always ready to spend time with my favorite godson.”

“Seriously, thank you,” Jack said, leading himself and Romeo towards the door. “I’ll talk to you later about…about you-know-what.” Jack wasn’t sure if talking about Halloween directly right now would be good call, especially since Romeo had just gotten over it.

“Okay, talk to you later Jack,” Charlie said as Jack and Romeo left. “See you tomorrow Romeo.” Anne Marie just waved, and that was the last thing before Jack shut the front door.

Romeo talked the whole way onto the street about Pinkie Pie and about how he couldn’t wait to play with her tomorrow (having realized that the intent tonight was just to get home for bath time and bed time), and Jack listened intently. The wind was blowing tonight, making things just a little bit colder than normal. Jack had been hoping to put off the buying the coat thing off for a little while, but Romeo’s sweater might not do the trick for much longer. He might have to just get it over with.

Jack held tightly onto Romeo’s hand as they walked, careful to keep Romeo close. Jack was on edge tonight after all that had happened today, making him just a more protective than normal. If Romeo noticed, he didn’t show it, just kept trotting along and talking about his new pink horse.

From in front of them came an auburn-haired girl, who was walking fast and with her head down to the ground. Jack tried to move out of her way before she could hit Jack straight on, which she was on path for, but she was going too fast and barreled straight into him. Jack’s hand left Romeo’s grasp as he was thrust back onto the sidewalk. The girl followed after him, landing on her side next to him with an ‘oof!’.

“Daddy!” Romeo said, frightened, running to Jack’s other side. “Are you okay Daddy?”

Jack sat up, quickly looking over himself. His right elbow stung under his thin hoodie, he had probably scrapped it. Other than that, it seemed Jack was perfectly fine. A little surprised, but fine.

“I’m okay tater-tot,” Jack assured, smiling up at Romeo. “I’ll be fine.”  Jack turned to the woman next to him, who seemed alright if a little shaken, who was rushing to stand back up. Jack quickly followed suit, looking at her in concern.

“Are you alright miss?” Jack said. The woman nodded her head and collected her bag off the concrete sidewalk.

“I’m perfectly alright,” the woman said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jack said. “Just a little surprised.”

The woman nodded and turned to go back on her way. Jack tried to lead Romeo back too, but Romeo just tugged on Jack’s sleeve.

“Daddy is that hers?” Romeo asked, head tilted to the side and pointing on the ground. There on the sidewalk was a small white slip of hard plastic, a picture of the woman on one side of it. Jack reached to pick it up and turned back to the woman, yelling out to stop her.

“M’am!” he yelled. The woman stopped at the corner, having been ready to turn, surprised. “You dropped your license!”

The woman eye’s widened in shock and she rushed back towards him. Jack’s eyes scanned over the license quickly, and he nearly had a heart attack when he read the name.

Katherine Plumber.

_Shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK AWHILE. To make it even worse, it's really not that good of a chapter....
> 
> Things to know:  
>  Jack Kelly singing songs to his kids, Romeo or not, is a headcanon you can rip from my cold, dead hands. 
> 
> If anyone is wondering about ages: Anne Marie is 21 and Charlie is 22, . Charlie and Davey are a year younger than Jack, who is 23, and Spot and Kath are the same age as him, and Race is the same age as Anne Marie. That's the only ages set in stone as these characters appear the most. Everyone else's ages (aside from Finch and Les, who have been mentioned) I have general ideas for, but can be changed on a whim if the plot DEMANDS it. 
> 
> IDK if Spot actually could have looked Snyder up in the system, but he would have had to been fingerprinted for foster care because that's what you have to do with the government, so Spot could have tracked him I think. 
> 
> Questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know!  
> Have a blessed day!  
> \--PrincessChess

**Author's Note:**

> This is...this happened.
> 
> This is like a little prologue to the fic, which fits within the Romeo Kelly AU I’ve been screaming about on the Newsies Amino for the past two weeks. It’s basically an AU where Romeo is the result of a teen pregnancy and Jack is his father, but he’s raising him on his own after Romeo’s mom left when he was a baby. I really liked this idea, so I ran with it and I just had to get it down and out of my head.
> 
> I also changed the lyrics to the Santa Fe prologue to make them more kid-friendly and skipped some parts because Jack in-universe isn’t supposed to know the whole thing.
> 
> I hope y’all like it, and I hope you have blessed day!  
> —PrincessChsss


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